I bought my Macbook Pro 15″ on July, 2011 in Hong Kong. In earlier 2013, I started to have screen glitches ( Image Distortion, screen blurring, freeze and shift) and I can’t boot the computer sometimes.

The problem escalated and I was not able to boot my computer normally at all at Sep 6, 2013. I can only boot the computer in Safe Mode and when I do get in, there are red vertical lines all over my screen!

In Shenzhen

I went to Apple Store Holiday Plaza in Shenzhen China at Sep 9. After some testing, the Apple “Genius” has determined that I need to replace the Logic Board of my MBP, and since my computer is out of warranty, it would cost me CNY4109.82 before tax to replace the Logic Board! This is totally UNACCEPTABLE and it is apparently not my responsibility but a SERIOUS quality control problem of Apple Computer! This is not the quality I expected from Apple and I’m very disappointing. You cannot expect a customer to buy a computer and use for only 25 months before it stops working at all!

Later I called Apple again trying to find a solution. They told me there’s nothing they can do and the guy said if I find it too expensive to replace the logic board I can just go find some other people to try to fix it instead of going to Apple Store. And if I think this is a quality problem of Apple products I should complain to the local consumer protection commission or just talk/report to the media!!! That made me wonder if Apple even wanted to solve a problem, or just trying to get rid of the angry customers.

Apple should start an investigation and do a recall on all these flawed models! I will not stop complaining through all possible channels until I get a reasonable explanation and solution from Apple!

Since going to an Apple store didn’t help much, I started to google and see if I can find any similar cases. As I expected, the results regarding this issue are enormous, and this has already became a hot topic in Apple Support Communities. And the problems all point to one component: The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, which is integrated on Logic Board) of Early 2011 MacBook Pro!!!So this is not a single case here, it involves huge amount of users across the world!

Below are some hot topics on Apple Support Communities regarding this malfunction:

If you have encountered the similar problem, you can join those discussions to tell your stories, we were hoping that this can draw some attention from Apple and that they would recall the flawed models instead of making all consumers to afford this unreasonable amount to replace the Logic Board. As of today, Apple still hasn’t commented or responded to this issue.

In Hong Kong

Later I spent 3 days collecting all information regarding this issue on Apple Support Communities. I wanted to try my luck again in Hong Kong (I bought my MacBook Pro there, I hoped that I can get more support there.)

I booked an appointment to get my computer checked by “Apple Genius” at Apple Store in Festival Walk, Hong Kong on Sep 13. The “Genius” asked me the serial number of my MBP. I provided with them the information and stated that I was not able to boot my computer and enter the system. After some tests, this “Genius” told me that in order to fix this issue, I need to replace my Logic Board, and the replacement would cost 4489 HKD before tax since my MBP is out of warranty. So I ask: Why would it malfunction after just 2 years of normal usage? Is this a quality issue of your product? The “Genius” said that the life span of these hardware are impossible to forecast, it could also fail due to improper usage. And all kinds of excuses like this. I ask him if he could tell me how frequent this kind of issues happens; and under normal usage, does Apple products just breakdown after only 2-3 years? I can understand if it has been used for 8-10 years and maybe the hardware will start to age. But a major malfunction after just 2 years is absolutely unacceptable! Especially since their products are very expensive and Apple claims that they value quality very much. The “Genius” responded to me that he didn’t know how many similar cases have happened and he wasn’t sure if they are caused by the same problem. The only way to fix this issue is for me to pay and replace the Logic Board. Also he was not able to answer my question regarding the product quality.

So I continue to ask him if they can guarantee that the same problem will not occur again if I pay to replace the Logic Board? The “Genius” answered that the replaced parts will have a warranty of 90 days, and if there are any problems during that period of time, I can come to Apple to get it fixed. So I asked him if the product would work after 90 days or not will totally depend on my luck?Because no one can know exactly when this flawed hardware will stop working again! He said that I will need to pay again for any problems after 90 days of warranty. Since I’ve already have doubts about the quality of Apple products, it will be hard for me to accept the possibility to pay for the same flaw fix for more than once. I wouldn’t give up and ask him that Apple values its quality, doesn’t it? Then “Genius” said yes, and if I have any suggestions I can post feedback on Apple website, and I will be reached by professionals from Apple. But obviously I have tried all possible channels to complain, but no one was willing to help me to resolve this issue. I asked if he can provide any contact of their complaints department or quality control department, but the answer is still no, again. I asked him to provide the phone number of their US head office, the answer is, of course, no. I was disappointed and asked him if this is how Apple treats your customers? Just to ignore them? The “Genius” cannot give me an answer and went to get his manager to deal with me.

After a while, he returned with a young manager. The “Genius” routinely introduced the issues I had with my MBP to his manager. Mostly just repeated what he had told me earlier, did his best to avoid any topics regarding the hardware malfunction and the concerns I have about their warranty policy. I said that I’m aware of Apple’s warranty policy, but my major doubts are about the hardware quality, and I needed some explanation about it. Why the Logic Board lasted only 2 years, can you tell me which part exactly is broken? “The problem might be on the GPU” Said the “Genius”. That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear (he didn’t mentioned this until I pushed them this far.) So I replied, “You all knew exactly what’s going on here and you intentionally kept this from the customers, right?” Right this moment, the “Genius” has left.

The manager started to explain that they cannot answer and didn’t conceal if there are problems regarding the hardware quality. The malfunction could be related to how users operate the machine. He even told me that his Apple computer from 2009 was still working fine, and all that sort of jibber jabber that’s full of uncertainty. At this point, I see no reason to beat around the bush anymore, so I ask him, “Did you or did you not have a universal quality issue with GPU on 2011 MacBook Pro? Did Apple start to pay attention to this malfunction? Are you still investigating or you are avoiding the problem? When will you start to recall these flawed models?” I showed him all the materials I found online regarding the issue. The manager seemed surprised that I came prepared. He briefly browsed the paper and thanked me for collecting this information. I stressed that my problem was not a single case here; it’s already a universal problem. Haven’t apple noticed this? A mass amount of 2011 MBP users are starting to have this problem, and it’s all over the world! How do you explain that?

The manager clearly didn’t plan to answer my question. He said that customers need to pay for any fix beyond the warranty. I asked him what about the quality? How can it stop working after just 2 year? What if it stops working again after I paid to fix it? The manager said that this won’t happen, if it has any problem, I can fix it for free during the 90-day warranty. Then I showed him the case I found that a user changed 3 Logic Boards continuously and the same issue still occurs! I said I have lost my confidence in Apple products. The manager failed to explain this situation and said if I have any problem I can leave feedback on Apple website. I kept asking if he could give me the phone number of their US head office or quality department, he refused.

Then I asked my last question to the manager, is this the final place to resolve my problems and concerns? There will be NO further follow-ups even if my problems are not solved, right? He answered, NO, there will be no other channel. I said I came here today to find a solution of my problem, you were not able to give me a reasonable answer, but I would not stop here. I would complain to the consumer committee, and fight for my right in my own way.

I went to Hong Kong Consumer Council and filed a complaint against Apple in Sep 16, 2013.

What I’ve Learned from This Experience

I have lost confidence in Apple after all these experiences. Their arrogant attitude towards the customers is unbearable and it has really disappointed me. No wonder it’s all over the media that Apple does not respect the rights of consumers. I wouldn’t believe this if I hadn’t experienced this in person! So apparently this has affected users from all walks of life!

Below I’d like to share some of my observations with you.

1. Why does Apple recommend you to buy Apple Care even when you are still in warranty?

My two cents: Apple products normally have only 1-year warranty in most countries, while most digital products can last at least 2-3 years before defects start to occur. So extend the warranty would lessen the feelings that there are natural flaws in Apple products. Users don’t complain that much as long as it gets fixed for free.

2. Does it really benefit the customers for Apple to replace the whole product for a new one for free while you are still in warranty?

My two cents: It makes you feel awesome when Apple replaces your in-warranty malfunctioned product with a new one, doesn’t it? But on second thought, ordinary users wouldn’t know if they are getting a product with all new hardware or repaired components. You wouldn’t know the details of your malfunctioned product, you wouldn’t know if there were universal defects. They just give you a new one. This smart strategy won them compliments from many ordinary customers. But once you are out of warranty, better be prepared for a hefty amount of repair fees. Most users won’t know whether they broke the product or there are quality issues.

3. Once you are out of warranty, will you get any guarantee for the repair fee you pay?

My two cent: The customers will need to pay for all repair fees once the products are out of warranty. All repairs will have a 90-day warranty. After 90 days, whatever happens, even the same issue occurs, you will have to pay for it again. Apple will NEVER admit that there are quality issues of their products. This logic about their quality is apparently unreasonable. I’ve learned that there’s a user who paid Apple to replace the Logic Board of his MacBook Pro. He ended up replace the Logic Board for 3 times. And the same defect appeared again after 119 days of his last replacement and Apple refused to fix it for free.

4. Trade-in your old iPhone for a new one?

My two cents: Is it really just a benefit for the Apple users? Is it just to boost the sales or there are other hidden reasons? From my perspective, it could just be a strategy of Apple to replace the old products with the new ones before the defects start to annoy millions of users. You can trade-in for a new iPhone, how good does that sound? But meanwhile, Apple can just recycle their problematic products and make a load of cash from them instead of losing big money to do a recall. Sneaky, right?

5. Are there really “Geniuses” to help you at Genius Bar?

My two cents: If a user has questions in using the Apple products, I trust all of them can get some help from the “Genius.” The user experience activity in Genius Bar does bring trust and guidance to the users. And makes you grow fond of their products. But if you happen to have malfunctioned hardware problems, unfortunately, you might not get very detailed answers from them. The “Genius” will only do some testing and give you a quote for the repair. No matter if it’s acceptable to you or not. They will NOT communicate with you and analyze the detailed issues of your hardware. They will NOT specify which part exactly is not working. They will NOT fix your hardware but just do a full replacement. At this point, the so-called “Genius” just appears to me as a tester. Nothing genius about them.

Without the leadership of Steve Jobs, people already start to question Apple’s innovative ability and their product quality. Nowadays, Apple is just a spoiled kid, with a culture as arrogant as hegemony.

Apple should remember that your fans can put you in heaven, they can also drag you to hell.
When the day comes, no one can save you.

If any of you have purchased 2011 MacBook Pro and experienced the same malfunction with the GPU. Please reply with the following format. Let’s get heard by Apple!

Apple ID (If you can provide):MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:Serial Number (If you can provide):Case Number (If you can provide):Country or Region:Details:

407 comments

Dreamson

Jay F

Apple ID:-
MacBook Model: Early 2011 17″ i7, 2.2GHZ
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02F9HEMDF92
Case Number (If you can provide): –
Country or Region: Purchased in India
Details: Glitchy graphics. CPU permanently throttled at 08.GHZ. When the computer first wakes from sleep, it works fine for 2-3 minutes, and from intel power gadget you can see the throttling begging. The INDIAN AASP says its overheating/CPU sensor that caused this cost to repair is $600. Very disheartened as I saved for 2 years and 3 months to buy this laptop

Apple ID : xdebug at qq.com
MacBook Model : Late 2011, 15”
Serial Number : C02GY4X2DV7M
Country or Region: Hong Kong
Details: One day when I turn on my mbp, I got problem with gray lines over the whole screen. Then I tried to press command+option+r but I got a blue screen with some gray lines.

abernal

OK, same history, just 4 days ago.
Macbook Pro 15″ Early 2011
Serial C02FC29CDF8Y
No Apple Care or Apple Store in my country (Panama).
gfxstatus to the rescue!

Court

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: Late 2011, 15″ 2.4GHz i7 running Mavericks 10.9.1
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GT0TMDV7P
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Australia
Details: Same symptoms as everyone else has described. I have taken immaculate care of it and Apple should really deal with this before it becomes bad PR… Also ironically, on first time trying to post this…. you guessed it…. my mpb crashed…. grrreeeat

Endorphinity

Details: The laptop refused to boot, displaying just a grey screen after Apple logo and progress indicator have gone. Memory is OK, HDD is OK as well (another Mac has booted successfully when this MBP was connected to it in a target mode; also swapped HDDs with another MBP, and the latter one has booted as well).
After resetting SMC, PRAM it somehow booted a couple of times both in safe mode and in the regular one), but not for long. It just was enough to play with GFXCardStatus for a while and to shutdown VMWare Fusion’s virtual machine which was open when the MBP refused to load at first time. As VMWare Fusion is very demanding to GPU (GFXCardStatus even has a special alert, stating that Fusion requires discrete GPU), I can’t just forget about failing GPU and switch to integrated graphics.

This is my 3rd Mac in 20 years I use Apple products. The second one, iMac 20″ Core2Duo (Late 2006) has also had a Radeon X1600 graphics chip, which has died in a very similar way in 3 years, with glitches, kernel panics and freezes. At least, this iMac still serves me with all ATI kexts removed, like an invalid without a kidney (sad joke). So maybe, this MBP is the last Mac I ever bought, unless Apple exposes a good will to their loyal users and issues a replacement program or something like that.

mashemup

Apple ID (If you can provide): kjarkin@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FM0KMDMGG
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: USA
Details: display flaws, fan running hard, followed by system crashes. Sometimes greyscreen, sometimes freezes at apple logo, sometimes unrecoverable, have to have genius bar reinstall an OS. Genius bar changed the hard drive, but the problem persists. Persists in safe mode. Doesn’t seem to matter how much is running – it can happen with just a few apps running and maybe some tabs in teh browser window. No gaming, no heavy processing, occasional skype, email, and web pages.

Teng

Apple ID:-
MacBook Model: Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): sorry, MBP wont boot up this time, using another laptop
Case Number (If you can provide): –
Country or Region: AUSTRALIA
Details: I can only boot up in safe mode, can’t do much. If I get lucky and am able to boot up normally, the system freezes just by opening a Chrome or VLC. I have seen too many of the blue, gray and all sorts of distorted screen. F***ing hell, this is not a cheap machine, and APPLE stays silent on this global issues. Internet has been flooded with complaints but still not even a simple decent response.

wayne888

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: MBP early 2011, 15
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Hong Kong
Details: Bought my MBP new in Hong Kong early 2011. Now 3 years later I get split screens, blue screens, all coloured striped screens. Reading so many people having the same problem and Apple ignoring us, makes me VERY disloyal to Apple. I’m pissed off with many Apple products e.g. poor batteries which can’t be replaced (need to throw away my old ipods), changes in charges (can’t use older changers on new products), older products can’t be upgraded to new iOS, no new innovation recently. My next phone WON’T ne iphone, neither will I buy a new iPad. I’ll move to Samsung. Changing back to PC….that will be tough. Apple should replace the defects in my MBP for FREE to win me back!

C2QJ400QDY1N

uglykidwen

Apple ID : coliwen at apple
MacBook Model : early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: bought in Australia
Details: similar problem happened to me every now and then. I have to force restart mac (press power button). Sometimes the screen will just show the grey screen with vertical bar, but it will back to normal after few seconds. I am worried my mac will become one of the above situation sooner or later.

Stritar

Flying

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: 2011 Early ,15, mc723
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FDKJYDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide): 是400-627-2273电话后的案例号吗？客服电话案例id: 654175816
Country or Region: China
Details:
我2011年4月底在中国亚马逊买了mc723，就是2011年的15寸高配版，这一个星期屏幕显示出现问题了、花瓶或者一直灰色，死机，本来以为自己倒霉用坏了，用的频率比较低，这几年有了孩子用的就更少了，就周末用几个小时，刚在cnbeta上看到这个新闻，才知道是通病http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/321341.htm

micmid

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: 8,2 early 2011, 2.2 GHz Core i7 (I7-2720QM), 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB DDR5, 15″, 750GB HDD (Model# A1286)
Serial Number C02FN48MDF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Udine, Italy
Details: Started to go crazy around Sep. 17, 2014. I brought to a genius store in Udine, where they sentenced “need to reply the motherboard”. I agreed for a price of about EUR 500. With the new motherboard it did EXACTLY the same problems (glitches, crashing, splitting desktop, need to reboot, etc) after just 10 minutes. I am going to bring it back in a couple of days, but I don’t see how things might improve.

rick

Apple ID : riccardo dot bolognini at fastwebnet dot it
MacBook Model: Early 2011 17″
Serial Number: C02FC2H6DF93
Case Number:
Country or Region: Italy
Details: MacBook Pro bought on March, 1st 2011, it started showing the issue by May 2013. By the end of Aug 2013 it is no longer booting. Been at a “Genius” but he could not do anything (for free) because Apple has not admitted the defect (yet).

Peter

MacBook Pro Model: Early 2011 17″
Serial Number : C02FF186DF93
Country: Hungary
Details: MacBook Pro bought on March 2011, it started showing the issue by Aug 2013. By the end of Aug 2013 it is no longer booting.

ahmeds84

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FX0AYDF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Purchased in Malaysia
Details: Purchased June 2011. Issues first appeared May 2013. Currently relying on gfxCardStatus to use Integrated only, and keep the laptop on sleep. Otherwise it’s hit and miss (mostly miss!) when booting up!

David Gruhin

MacBook Model: Late 2011 MBP 15″
Serial Number: C2QHL00TDY1N
Country or Region: United States
Details: When the discrete graphics turns on 6750M, it is only a matter of time before the machine freezes. I am using GfxCardStatus to manually disable the 6750M and the problem subsides.

I have 2 of these exact same computers. Both exhibit the issue, both were purchased as refurbished units directly from apple.com. Both are clearly defective and this is a widespread known issue.

Apple ID (Aiwey):
MacBook Model [MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (C02FL09BDMGG):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Purchased in New York
Details:
Can’t boot up, after the screen (with apple logo) OS shift the GPU to AMD chip then horizontal glitch blue screen appears. Been at a “Genius” but he could not do anything (for free) because Apple has not admitted the defect (yet).

RioMacUser

Apple ID : RioMacUser
MacBook Model Early 2011, 15″ Hires display
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Bought in US, died in Brazil
Details:
Pretty much same description as the others: Stripes or blank screen (gray, black). Not booting anymore.

Sum

Apple Forums ID: Airbum88
Macbook Late-2011
Country: Canada (Toronto)
Details: Unlike some of the users here, I did not have any visual anomalies when my Macbook crashed. There were no warning signs whatsoever. Graphically, it was perfect. I was reading and it crashed. Tried rebooting but couldn’t proceed past the grey screen and I couldn’t boot into safe mode, disk utility, or any of the other modes. I took my MBP to two Apple Stores where they told me there’s something wrong with my GPU and basically said it was my fault for not getting Apple Care. I called Apple afterwards and talked to a Senior Advisor. The Senior Advisor told me basically the same thing. He really seemed like he had no clue about anything because he said that if I was still able to see the Apple logo on the gray screen, then it shouldn’t be a GPU problem. It’s been nearly 3 weeks since my MBP broke down and I am still trying to resolve this issue with someone with Customer Relations. It has been time consuming but I also feel Apple need to take responsibility in this and fix our computers.

As most of you know, Apple has not commented on this issue. I believe we need to draw attention to this problem until it is impossible for Apple to ignore us. Some of the users, including myself, have already written a letter to CEO Tim Cook. I know writing a letter is a hassle to some of you, so I already took the liberty and drafted a template that you can all use. If you visit my website at sumchoi.com, you can download the template in English, Chinese, and Japanese. Also, feel free to modify the template to better suit your own situation. My only purpose of drafting this template letter is to make Apple aware of this problem and take action.

Michael

Robert

Apple ID (If you can provide): sunmingming@gmail.com
MacBook Model : Early 2011, 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: China
Details: My mac book will boot into a blue screen and halt.

Nicolas

Apple ID : nicohosa@hotmail.com
MacBook Model [MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
2.2 I-7 CPU
AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB
Serial Number: C17F92TNDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):
Purchased in SWEDEN
Details: In the beginning destorted graphics like described from other users. For a while it was possible to run safe boot but now the macbook is dead. When I boot now there is only a blue screen.

Apple ID: dannyzinhow@ig.com.br
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FK2MNDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Brasil
Details: Same problem… gpu die… only use discrete (gfx)

Karthikeyan S

Apple ID: rokr047@gmail.com
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FN1EHDF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: US
Cant even boot into mac now!!

JM

Apple ID: jtrane
MacBook Model: Early 2011 MacBook Pro 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C2QGV003DTS57
Country or Region: FR
Bought on Apple’s refurb store less than 2 years ago (20 months). Problem has started 3 weeks ago right after SMC 1.7 update (split screen, glitch, lines, system freeze), and get worse each day. This morning i had to reboot 27 times before being able to land on osx desktop. Not sure if it’s a firmware / smc problem, an amd gpu issue, termal paste etc… i guess it’s abit of all that. But here the real big issue is the lack of consideration Apple has for its customers.

Apple ID (If you can provide): frank.shortt@lyse.net
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: MacBook Pro (early 2011) 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 / Intel HD Graphics 3000 512MB / Memory: 10GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02F95H3DF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Norway
Details: Got the “blue screen of death” on 22 Sep. 2013…. as reported in the threads listed. Got a workaround from the thread with the gfxCardStatus and smcFanControl, but the issue did not resolve completely as when loading sources with heavy graphics the problem came back (basically the fans could not keep the chips cool enough)….
seeing this is not a real fix, I had to get a new machine and pass my early 2011 machine to my kid…. was loosing too much time fixing machine, not getting work done!

China_MACer

MacBook Model Early 2011 MacBook Pro 15″
Serial Number C02G23PEDF8X
Country or Region: Shanghai,China
Details: Bought in August 2011 from Pudong Apple Store,Shanghai.Worked perfectly well until the August 1st week(2013) ,where it started showing Blue/Black vertical lines,frequent freezes,blurred Apple Logo,screen displacments etc etc.It is since booting intermittently.After analyzing I found out this to be GPU issue(Works perfectly when the Intel HD GPU is used).I also went to the Apple Store GENUIS BAR where they quoted a steep 4800 CNY for repair/replacement.I mean why should I pay this amount when it is clearly a quality issue? Apple has to take responsibility & fix this free of cost.Till then I am boycotting all Apple Products & will educate my friends & family the same. Thanks.

same issue as everyone….tought this would be a great computer to work with, changed as well the first time logic board…after 90 days same problem…i’m with you guys and we must find a solution….i don’t want and i don’t have 500 and more bucks to trhow away and may be after 90 days again the same problem…cheers guys and big support…apple must listen to us!!

Details: Purchased used, appeared to be working perfectly when I bought it from the scumbag who must have known about the problem. Quickly discovered that the display was messed up when running any graphics-intensive app (Logic, even iPhoto – wish I had launched that prior to buying). Went to the local “Genius” Bar where they wiped my HD and did a clean OS 10.8.4 install, only to find the same problem occurring at the login window. The “Genius” was like “Uh oh, you need a new logic board, that will run you $600″. I began scouring the net for similar issues, and discovered the legions of others with the exact same model and the exact same problem. Downloaded gfx.io (what a great little app) and confirmed that I had the same issue with the AMD 6750m discrete graphics card. Switch to the integrated card, and everything is fine; switch back to the discrete card and it looks like feces.

In parallel, I’ve been having an email exchange with Apple support – told them about my experience, including my awareness of how prevalent the issue with this model is, and that Apple should be accountable, sent links to the threads on their own support site as well as this url. Waiting for a reply, but not holding my breath.

I’m a 25+ year owner/user of Apple products, a loyal customer who’s always been willing to shell out more money for their products because I believed they were superior to the competition. This experience has truly shaken my faith in the company. Yes, I realize that I bought a used computer with no warranty, etc. but this is clearly a design/construction flaw that Apple should address with a recall or replacement program. If you bought an 8 cylinder car, but only 4 cylinders actually worked, the company would have to do a free recall or get taken to court/jail. Why not the same for a computer?

Clovis Teixeira

MacBook Model Macbook PRO Early 2011 15” – 2.2GHz – AMD Radeon HD 6750M
Serial Number: C02FF6BBDF91
Country or Region: Brazil
Details: Macbook PRO brought in US, with about 2 years ( by March 2013) it starts to have graphic glitches when using softwares that require discrete graphics.
Distorted image, blue screen, fault booting (i have to try several times to get it booted).
Today i have to use gfxCardStatus in order to lock to the integrated graphics and i never shutdown!
But eventually it crashes so i have to reboot, and then i always pray to get it booted successfully.

I have no Apple Store here in Brazil, the authorized assistance ask me the macbook but i can’t afford 2 months of wait

I hope Apple look at this systematic failure in the Early 2011 models and make the recall for everybody suffering from this issue.

NC

MacBook Model: MBP 13″, Late 2011
Country or Region: Manila, Philippines
Details: Freezing screens, eventually needs to be rebooted. One time it got stuck in the apple logo/gray screen.. After a few hours, it booted but all the icons are missing (e.g. wifi, battery, spotlight). After bringing it to the service center, they told me it was either the laptop/OS/hard drive. But all the files are still there. Annoying.

Nicola

Apple ID (If you can provide): nicoladalsacco@gmail.com
MacBook Model : I7 quad core 2GHZ, Early 2011 , 15 inch, GPU AMD 6490M
Serial Number (If you can provide): C2QGQ09TDRJC
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Italy
Details: I can work only with internal HD3000 graphics, disable GPU extension, i think that i’ll go at Consumer Council !!!

Greg Shukov

Yevgeniy

Apple ID: easterling.rus@gmail.com
MacBook Model [2011 Early | 17”]:
Serial Number:C02F86QADF92
Country or Region: Russia;
Details:
I had the same glitches at first. Now, I have white screen at boot, global freez at switching GPU in gfxCardStatus. I tried to remove drivers, but when my Mac booting without those drivers, it freezes with a line of multiple color distortion. I have this issue since spring, 2013. I can’t work with this computer and it makes me crazy. I also can’t even go to the Apple Store, because we have no Apple stores in Russia, so I have to solve this all by myself.

oaj

Details:
I bought this machine in March 2011, it worked fine until September 2013. The display just flashed and went black. After rebooting there where some vertical red stripes. The system eventually boot-up but only worked for a while before crashing again. Now it goes to a white screen and freezes. I took it to be checked out by the apple tech and was informed that the logic board is damaged and it will cost for the repair.
This is my second experience with this issue. I bought this machine in March 2011 after my 2008 MacBook Pro 17″ stopped working and was diagnosed with logic board failure.
This is not what I expect from Apple products. I have been a apple user for over 20 years from PowerMac 610, 7200, 9500, MacBook G3, PowerBook G3, original iMac, PowerMac G4, G5, eMac, MacMini, IPhone 2G, 4G. Many of those units are still working after 10 years or more.
This is not like apple to build products with 24-30 months life span.
Apple need to do something about this issue.

I’ve owned Mac’s since 1986 (Mac 512k) and have never had a hardware issue of this severity until now – That’s pretty good going. I currently own a MacBook Pro, iMac 27″, iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPad 2, 2 iPod touches, Airport Express and more from Apple.

I expect Apple to recognise that this is a widespread problem and they need to repair or replace these problematic machines regardless of warranty status. Repairing with refurbished motherboards which soon have the same issues is not the solution.

Oleg

Apple ID: olenev dot oleg @ me dot com
MacBook Model [Early 2011 MacBook Pro 17”:
Serial Number: C02FC064DF92
Case Number:
Country or Region: Bought in USA, live in Russia
Details: Macbook Pro was bought in spring of 2011. All worked fine until last month (September 2013). Now i have periodically lockups with screen artifacts when i open any app which is not using internal video card.
i can not use my external display anymore. the cost of repair in authorizer services is about $1000-1500. this is absolutely unacceptable.
now i have 3 notebooks from Apple:
1st – PowerBook G4 15” 1.67 (last model with G4) – and it still works fine.
2nd – MacBook Pro 15” Core2Duo 2,2 – had the similar problems with NVidia GPU. Apple replaced it for free because GPU problem was well known. Now this MacBook works fine too. I gave it to my Mom.
3rd – MacBook Pro 17” i7 2.2 early 2011” – lockups, screen artifacts, can not open Hardware test at all (it locks the comp). i can not work with MacBook Pro.

P.S. all these years i was big fan of Apple and i recommended Apple products to all of my friends. I wait for official Apple’s response.

Supop B.

Apple ID: Supop B.
MacBook Model:15″ early 2011 2.0Ghz
Serial Number (If you can provide): –
Case Number (If you can provide):-
Country or Region: Thailand
Details: Had this problem around 3 months ago.
at first it start with a line on the screen and then has a blue screen with a vertical line in a week later. Cannot boot up the OS anymore(after apple logo appear on the screen it’s only a white plain screen and stop)

h4x

Apple ID (If you can provide): h4x3rotab
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: early 2013 15″ (mc723)
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FJ1P9DF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Hong Kong
Details: The vary same problem

Wilerson

Early 2011 15” 2.2 GHz Core i7 AMD Radeon HD 6750M
Since January 2013, system locks up with artifacts whenever the discrete GPU is being used. Using gfxCardStatus to keep in Integrated GPU only keeps the system stable, but it only boots after several retries.

Jian

Marco

same problem here.
MBP early 2011, 15″, 2.3 Ghz i7, Intel HD Graphics 3000, AMD Radeon HD 6750M.
had problems since day one, now i had to replace logic board for €500,00 due to major failure (no reboot).
repair number *R104721815*.
dear apple this time you should have done something to help loyal customers like us.

Bryan

Leonardo

Hi I’m Italian and I have a Macbook Pro 13″ Early 2011, I get it 12 times to the “Genius Bar” for Trackpad, CPU, Display,Alimentation Board but expecially for GPU and GRAPHIC PROBLEM.
I sent a lot of mail to Apple and I asked a lot of time to change my mac but without success.
FACCIAMOCI SENTIRE DA APPLE!!!!
MAGARI FANNO COME CON L’IMAC DEL 2011 CHE SOSTITUISCONO LA SCHEDA MADRE GRATIS!!!!

Christian

MacBook Model: 15-inch, Early 2011
Serial Number: C02G6473DRJC
Country or Region: Argentina
Details: A couple of weeks ago, the screen on my Macbook went grey and since then I was never able to start the laptop again

Max

Kevin P

Apple ID (If you can provide): MacBook Pro 8,2
MacBook Model [15″ Early 2011]
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GD12XDRJL
Case Number (If you can provide): NONE
Country or Region: USA
Details: For past roughly 18 months, the 6490M sporadically and randomly kicks in to distort the video and, eventually, freeze the system. Only ‘fix’ I have found is to disconnect my external monitor and run only off integrated graphics. However, that’s not really a ‘fix’, per se…only a workaround. Problem occurs only 10 – 15 % of the time I’m using the 6490M…but that’s a LOT in everyday use!!!

rlodina

Early 2011 15” 2.3 GHz Core i7 AMD Radeon HD 6750M – same problem.

FIXED: reballing GPU ~ 50 EUR and now I’m more vigilant with internal system temperature:

1. Installed FanControl – and change (in more aggressive way) relation of fan speed – sensor temperature.
2. I use laptop with an external monitor – now my lid is always open !!!
3. I use a simple cooling pad
4. I use only occasionally Windows virtual machine (Parallels).

ogattaz

Apple ID: ogattaz
MBP early 2011, 15″, 2.2 Ghz i7, Intel HD Graphics 3000, AMD Radeon HD 6750M.
Serial Number: C02F86XPDF8X
Country or Region: France
Details:
Like Yevgeniy (see previous comment), now, I have a grey screen at boot, and I can’t use my Mac even I try to boot using a fresh clean OS installed on an external disk
I also tried to remove drivers, but when my Mac booting without those drivers, I got the same result

choual

Apple ID (If you can provide): choual
MacBook Model : Macbook Pro 15″ Early 2011+ Radeon HD6490M
Serial Number (If you can provide): Can’t boot to find it
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Thailand
Details: Purchased in june 2011, in july 2013 I’ve changed ram+sdd + upgraded to Mountain Lion, 1 month later blue screen while watching a movie. Now can’t boot at all. I go blue screen each time after the Apple logo while start up.

Valmorion

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide): is in the technical suport will update in few days
Case Number (If you can provide): same
Country or Region: Mexico
Details: Starts with a screen error and then the computer wont boot, just let me enter single-user mode

Andy

MacBook Model: early 2011 15″, 2.2 GHz
Details: bought online at the Apple online store
First issues occurred around October 12th, since then white screen after the apple logo during the booting process.

Chan

MacBook Model :
– MBP. 15-inch, Early 2011.
– Model Name: MacBook Pro
– Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
– Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
– Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
– Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FG09MDF91
Country or Region: Canada
Details: GPU malfunction. If it is using discreet, the screen will freeze, overheat and shut down. Need to use integrated to keep it functioning. Even with integrated, it is 50/50 when coming out of sleep. Lifting the lid will either result in working screen, or just black screen.

Bryce

Apple ID :346112805@qq.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR :2011 15″ early
Serial Number :C02GG19NDRJD
Case Number :
Country or Region:Hong Kong
Details:Try to switch to discrete graphics will make OS crash or screen freeze,after that,can’t boot with logo blurring then gray screen,sometimes yank the power out and try several times can go to login.Genius test every hardware all right and told me maybe something wrong with logic board and replace logic board cost more than RMB4000 without tax.BTW picture looks like on Weiphone.Hope APPLE can hear us.And if you need some support you can send me Email.

elisa

elisahidalgo@me.com
Early MBP 2011
C02FL468DF91
Dominican Republic
Diagnosed with GPU failure by official Apple service provider and retailer, only boots to grey screen, completely useless computer since I’m an Architect and Interior Designer

Chele Aguilera

Apple ID (If you can provide): oneom
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number: C02G40UKDRJN
Case Number: R103010523
Country or Region: USA
Details: After 2 years with zero problems, I observed a video anomaly after plugging in an external monitor for extended desktop. Shortly after it froze. I somehow got it to reboot, took it into the apple store. They said they didn’t know what the problem was, tested memory, said they could send it out for repair at $310 flat rate. I told them I want to be sure about what’s causing the problem before I agree to pay, so I took it home. Extensive troubleshooting combined with online research, finally led me to understand that the problem is with the AMD processor, and that it is degenerative (ie; it keeps getting worse over time). Currently I can run the machine just fine, as long as I don’t run an app or perform a function which causes the GPU to switch from Intel to AMD; as it is certain to freeze when the switch is made, or shortly thereafter. Sometimes the AMD GPU works for a limited period of time ––it seems that when a certain threshold of shared memory in reserve for graphics is met, bam! Corruption and freeze. Bummer because the AMD is the EFI boot device, so it wants to white screen at restart after a freeze occurs. I have to trick it by first restarting and clearing PRAM, then plugging in the MacBook Pro, then booting in to Recovery, which it does. Then while in Recovery screen, UNPLUG the power cord –which signals lower energy consumption and thus means a higher threshold before AMD will be switched-to, then reboot from Recovery mode while still unplugged. That clears the reserved memory back to default, apparently. Anyway, I can’t use most of the apps that I require for it to be useful. I would like Apple to acknowledge the defect and help us –their loyal customers– at the very least, get into a newer, dependable model at little or discounted cost. I am hesitant to pay for repair when they will not only be replacing my logic board with an identically defective part, but chances are the part will be a “factory reconditioned” part –meaning not brand new –meaning LESS than 2 years of use left. COME ON APPLE, PLEASE TAKE CARE OF US. WE ARE YOUR GREATEST ADVOCATES, NOT YOU’RE ADVERSARIES. MAKE A GESTURE, AND I ASSURE YOU IT WILL GO FAR. MAKE STEVE PROUD –REST HIS SOUL.

Apple ID (If you can provide): alvarobilbao
MacBook Model : MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide): C2QFV2ZZDF8V.
Country or Region: Spain
Details:
I purchased this computer in late July 2011, the team worked perfectly until late September of this year 2013 (after little more than two years of life), I was watching a movie and the device suddenly blocked with a black screen.
After making all the necessary tests, I called the technical support service of Apple and take it to an Apple Store (kindly check the reports) for diagnosis, they confirmed that it is a failure of the GPU and I have to replace the logic board.

Josep M Montero

Apple ID: jomamove@gmail.com
Serial Number: C02F9ZG7DF8V
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro 15-inch early 2011
Country: Spain
Details: I was with my Mac just checking some files and doing a little bit of cleaning when suddenly my screen becomes blue with stripes. I freaked out when I could not restart my Mac with any of my operative systems. I went to the Genius Bar of La Maquinista, they told that I have to change my logic board because It was broken. I asked why it happened and they told me that they don’t know why but it will cost me 496 euros. They fixed it and after 2 days it was broken again so they changed it that logic board for another one. This time they were like 10 days to fix my Mac. When I went to take it and 2 days later it was broken again. I was very angry with them because I thaught that they were laughing on me… Now I got it fixed but It becames very very hot and it doesn’t work properly so I feel that they have stole me 500 euros because I don’t have my Mac fixed.

Jon

I have just received a call from an Apple Genius service dude and my early 2011 17″ Mac book pro has a defective logic board. A replacement Logic board and memory is $980 (Australian) Luckily for me I got the extended Apple Care! For this issue to occur on a machine that is not that old is unacceptable and really poor form, not what I have come to expect from Apple

I am a graphic designer and have always used Apple machines as they are superior in performance/user interface for my needs, however I have also had issues with my late 2012 imac (also under Apple care) which had defective memory that was replaced by Apple.

I dont like to hate on Apple but charging a premium for machines that have not been properly tested/constructed/whatever is not good enough. Is Apple now in the grasp of cost cutting accounts? I will continue to use Apple machines but I will never buy a machine from them without paying the extra for extended warranty because I can no longer trust the workmanship. Which is sad.

jay

I just wanted to add that I always bought Apple products FOR ONE SIMPLE REASON – knowing that Apple has my back. They always replaced something without any hassles, were quick to attend to my problems, and that made the $2500 laptop worth it.

But ever since they kept denying my request for acknowledge this issue – I am disheartened. Because as student, I gave up on 2years+ of partying and traveling to buy this 17′ laptop, and it has gone down the drain.

After 23 months, horizontal lines and then constant crashes. Sometimes boots to black screen. After disabling video card, I can boot – sometimes it works but I can’t use external monitor. Brought it in to Apple store and they said $310 to fix. Two days later I get bill for $610. HUH? Fuck you Apple. As a .Net developer, I run Windows 7 but bought a Mac because of it’s RELIABILITY. So much for that. I will NEVER buy an over-priced Mac computer again unless they do something to help the thousands of people with this issue.

system: Mac Book Pro 2011 15”
purchase: April 20, 2011
SN: C02F5S4JDF8X
System will no longer boot. Has always had problems with slowness, freezing up, screen distortion ,fan running / hot. Have reinstalled system as directed by Apple Genius Bar (clean) without positive results. Failed logic board per Apple. They won’t fix it for free. Lots of hoop jumping to no effect. Mavericks seems to have made it worse. VERY FRUSTRATING. CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT?

Marcelo

MacBook Model: Macbook Pro 8,2 early 2011 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Serial Number: C02FC9X4DF8X
Purchase Date: Purchased in the US in March 2011
Country or Region: Ecuador, South America
Details:
Everything started to fail in july this year, right now I’m working with the intel 3000HD, but I can’t open apps that require the Dedicated GPU.

Apple ID (If you can provide): contactoelconejorojo@gmail.com
MacBook Model [ mc721CI /A (May | 15”,
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02F9ZV3DF8C
Country or Region: Chile, Latinoamerica
Details:In This moment the computer is hang.
The screen started to distort and and then went to blue, another opportunity is distorted black screen with the computer hangs. I send a technical service authorized in Chile and I confirmed the video card failure of factory default associated with the video card dedidcada (Radeo 6490M), Up to this day I can not use my mac that cost me over 2000 dollars, as it hangs after starting the video card Reconco damaged and hangs with blue screen. the computer has not received any blow and the failure occurred while using video editing programs.

Lance Daish

Noltari

Apple ID: noltari@gmail.com
MacBook Model: Early 2011 17”
Serial Number: C02FC1Z6DMGH
Case Number: R105884247 & R106702423
Country or Region: Spain
Details: Macbook Pro GPU died on 14-17 October 2013 for a first time. I took it to an Apple Store and got my logic board replaced for 500€. After 10 hours of using my “repaired” mac, the GPU died again, and it’s currently being repaired for a second time on the Apple Store.

LeVeLi

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early-2011 / 15″ / 2.2 i7 / 6750M
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Bought in Miami, malfunctioned in Venezuela
Details: It started hanging up when playing games a few times in early 2013 and I attributed it to the games rather than my GPU being faulty, but after installing Mavericks, everything went to Hell. The moment the GPU is activated it starts glitching. split screen, banding, blue lines, and if the computer is left for a few minutes in a white/blue screen hanged state, it beeps 3 times. I took a couple of videos with my iPhone to illustrate the problem to Apple technicians:

ferrero

MacBook Model Early 2011 15″
Serial Number: C02F87D7DF8V
Country or Region: Spain
Details: Two days ago the MacBook Pro died. I can’t boot (grey screen) unless I remove all AMD*.kext from /System/Library/Extensions. Now I don’t have OpenGL enabled and can’t open any application that require it. I get the following message in the log:

fred

Count me in with the same problem (graphic glitches, etc). Estimate to replace the LB: 600€. Sincerely hope that Apple does right by its loyal customers and extends the warranty to at least 4 years for this particular issue.

Also, I have troubles at boot – I see horizontal distortion of apple logo and progress indicator, after that I have gray screen on which loading stops(once I waited near 20minutes – nothing happened, only notebook get really hot)… For now the only way to boot into OS is to reboot it right on grey screen – sometimes after it, OS boots without any graphic glitches.

Bogdan

I went to one of local service centers(as I know, this one is not authorized by apple), and they replaced my graphic chip, and gave me 3 month warranty. It cost me $250.

Do not know why, but graphical chip was defective:
it could not be overheated by extreme load(I have no games, or complex graphics on it).
it could not be broken mechanically(notebook was never fell or something).
there was no other possible violations of the rules of operation
So, I think fault was because of issue in Apple quality assurance.

If you are from Kyiv, I can recommend this service – company name is MacNit.

Kaspar128

Same problem here,
MacBook-pro 15″, early 2011, (8,2) with AMD Radeon HD 6750M
Bought it online in The Netherlands

3 weeks ago blue lines/distorion followed by a crash.
The machine is 2,5 years old.
Apple offers a logicboard -replacement for 496 euro’s. Which I refuse to pay.

I work as a freelancer and with a family to support I find the amount of money apple charges people for a fault that is their own, really unnaceptable.

I can disable the ATI/AMD-driver by replacing it. The system doesn’t crash now but being forced to get my assigments done with blue distorted screen is torture.
I bought this machine to get my work done, but apple is really letting me down by all this.

Started getting blue screens, black screens, and freezes one week ago. Was able to function for one week using gfxcard, but now the Macbook will not boot at all, not even in Safe or Single User mode.

The computer is only a year and 4 months old. 4 months out of warranty, and a $1400 computer is a paperweight. This is unacceptable.

I’ve been a fan of Apple for 20 years. I stood by them in the dark Gil Amelio days, when Apple stock hit a low in the single digits. The last two (2) Apple laptops that I’ve puchased have failed with 4 months of the warranty expiration. (the last being a 2005 iBook– anyone remember how many of those failed? Lots!)

I’ve always been willing to pay a premium for Apple products, knowing that the quality and support are worth it. In the past, I’ve had a Mac last 5-6 years, more than justifying the higher price-point.

I’m beginning to rethink my loyalty, though. Two laptops, to failures, and nothing from Apple. Thousands of my dollars for computers that don’t last. I’m trying to decide whether I will ever by another Macbook again.

Apple, you’re screwing your loyal customers. You have $145 Billion dollars, cash, in the bank. You can take care of your customers better than this, and acknowledge when there is a manufacturers defect. If you do, then we will reward you with continued loyalty, and buy more Apple products.

hashem ahmadi

Same problem here

A poor student from iran. I’m struggling with this problem for about three months and I did everything possible to have this fucking problem solved. Please do sth apple. I really can’t afford to pay $400 for a fucking logic board.

Luke Marsden

Apple ID (If you can provide): luke_a_marsden@hotmail.com
MacBook Model: Early 2011 17″
Country or Region: Australia
Details: Purchased June 2011, problem started September 2013. Was operating as normal, opened Chrome to browse online, and vertical distortion, horizontal scanlines appeared, trackpad pointer stopped being responsive. Problem became progressively worse, and within a day or two could get nothing but a blue screen when turning computer on. I took it to an Apple store and was quoted over $600 to replace the logic board because the GPU had failed. I’m not claiming any especial loyalty to Apple, and don’t expect them to cherish me as a beloved old friend, but I do like their computer products and operating system, and was happy to pay the money for it. You certainly don’t expect such an expensive machine to have a habit of breaking down two years after you bought it. Very disappointed and irritated.

Razzi

MacBook Model : MacBook Pro (early 2011) 15 inch
Serial Number : C17F911TDF8V
Country or Region: France
Details:
– At first : some freezes (restart required)
– Then : blue lined freezes and sometimes black screens
– Unable to restart : only a grey screen after the apple or sometimes a blue lined screen
– No way to restart even after : resetting SMC, PRAM, apple hardware test, etc …
– The only solution was to launch an internet recovery (do not hesitate to launch it 10 or 20 times …) and to restore with a Time Machine backup
– Now I’m using gfxCardStatus (Do it yourself when Apple don’t) for a week on integrated card mode and it seems to work (even if on the first installation, my macbook froze again). Nevertheless, as a restart may switch to the corrupted card, I prefer let my mac open.
– So it’s like I have a 15 years old macbook, great…

Kuan Chen

MacBook Model : macbook pro 15 2011 early
Country or Region: Taiwan
Details:
This is my macbook pro died of the GPU problem second times in two months .
It is a really awful experience. I paid 18000 NTD for this.
But the most horrible disaster is all my works interrupted.
I feel disillusioned with apple’s product & service.

Owen Jeremiah

Bought the MBP on mid of 2011. Start having the problem earlier this week, the screen shift to the right, and the right part shown on the left. Rebooting seems to restore everything to normal, until suddenly it will do the same thing again (was opening Adobe InDesign when the problem started.)

Yesterday the problem got worse when it won’t show the login window at all. Thought the problem was with the faulty OS install. Bought a new hard drive to be installed with vanilla Mavericks installation. Was working until yesterday evening. Thought everything solved, close lid to sleep.

Opening the lid today (Nov 29), just showing black screen with the power light blinking, perpetually in sleep mode. Had to reboot using the power button, now it won’t get past the grey screen after apple logo. Tried booting from single user mode which got me somewhere earlier, with no such luck now. Googling about MBP Early 2011 problem with GPU got me here.

Will Apple deal with this significant problem that happened all over the world? Can we file a worldwide class suit on Apple?

1) The audio jack got loose. I have bought a $2000USD computer that has a 3.5” jack that was worse than the one you can find in a $20USD radio. There was no way to get a cable to stay inside the jack, the minor movement lifted it off from the jack. Really useful in rehearsals (we used the Mac to trigger Reason loops). Not to mention the stage. This is, actually, old news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W0rhmzMgBo. (more than 60,000 views!).

2) The memory card slot stopped working. Again, something that flawlessly works in most $20USD adapters you can buy in any tech store. Since then, I had to carry my external SD card slot everywhere. Not the worst problem in the world, but indeed an annoying one. This is, again, old news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbc0l-t3f1Q (almost 130,000 views!!).

3) Random glitches. The first thing I did after buying the laptop, was to update it with a hybrid Seagate Momentus XT 500GB disc. I had used my first MBP with that disk with excellent results, hence I didn’t hesitate to buy a second one. To my surprise, every 8 or 10 hours, the Spinning Beach Ball of Dead would appear, and I was eager to blame the disc for that, since I could still perform tasks that did not require disk access. But later on, I discovered that it was the first symptom of something way, way worse.

4) The infamos ATI issue: things started as infrequent hangs and/or distorted video, until I lost ability to boot the computer (grey screen, blue screen, same as most people in the forum). I ended up with an useless Mac that won’t even boot.

Apple Id : derrie81
MacBook Model : early 2011 macbook pro early 2011 2.0 ghz AMD radeon 6450M
part no : MC7212 A/A
Serial Number : C02FQ3EYDF8V
Case Number : N/A
Country or Region: Indonesia
Details: i have the same issue. my mac had just died without anny warnings. indication first with a glicht and split view on monitor and macbook pro startet to freeze. this happened for less then 7 times and after a hard reset and reeboot, the screen went blue with stripes

after that my mac hasn’t been able to reboot and freezes on startup. really frustating for a $2000 machine

Hi, same problem with a MBP 15” (early 2011). I want to create a form to collect all our dates of apple clients (ID, mac model, Serial, official invoice number -of repair-, etc…) and send a collective complaint to Irland. We have to get Apple to recognize their mistakes.

CJ

Hey Guys,

quite a positive story here!

I walked into the same problem as most people here about a month ago. For a week, my two-and-a-half year old early 2011 MacBook Pro showed problems with its display. After a week of that, it failed to boot completely.

Fearing the worst, I brought it into the reseller where I bought it ( A german/Dutch reseller called “Media Markt”). They took it in, warned me it needed to be send to Apple, and that they would contact me if there would be costs involved. They also warned me that it could take up to 6 weeks.

Picture my surprise when I received a text message this week, after only 9 days, stating that my Macbook was ready to pick up! I went over to the store, and found out that the logic board had been replaced, free of charge!

Not so bad for a 2,5 year old machine, and not even with extended apple care!

…..maybe a sign of an upcoming recall? Lets hope so for all you people who aren’t so lucky as I am……..

Lucas Reynolds

MacBook Pro early 2011 i7
SN: C02F92F0DF8Y
Failure to boot/ Displays blue screen with black vertical lines. The logic board already had to be replaced once shortly after I purchased the computer and now my computer is just outside of warranty.

Sheep Lee

Apple ID : 100009168@qq.com
MacBook Model: Late 2011, 15″ Macbook pro (MD322)
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: China
Details:
Same description as the others: Stripes or blank screen (gray, black).

Zboubidoo

MacBook Model: Late 2011, 15″ Macbook pro
Graphic card: AMD Radeon HD 6770M
Serial Number: C02HD522DV7M
Country or Region: France
Details: Colored stripes when trying to do any graphic work with the computer (Adobe Suite, Blender…), or when opening Mail for mac. I bought the machine in early 2012, therefore it’s not even two years old yet.

tmaynard

Same problems with my early 2011 MacBook Pro. Spent $500 in August 2013 ( only 18 months old MVP) to fix the logic board. Today had the same problem. My mbp is useless to me. How do we get Apple’s attention to this quality issue. Do we need to suite them? I’m willing to suite them!!

Emiliano Colon

Apple ID (If you can provide):hengxin196@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR ( Mid | 15”]:
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02G3D37DF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region:Beijing
Details:the same problem

Gregor Wimmer

MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: 2011 Early 17″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C2QFQ2W9DF92
Case Number (If you can provide): 534182181
Country or Region: Austria / Europe
Details:

Since updating from Mountain Lion to Mavericks I do have problems with my MacBook Pro 17″ early 2011 (2,2 GHz, i7, 8GB).

Suddenly I had horizontal stripes on my display and everything was completely blured.
Then the display “moved” to the right, means that the cursor went out of the display on the right side and came in again on the left.

Apple ID (If you can provide): jesse.jarvi@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FFMY0DF8V
Case Number (If you can provide): n/a
Country or Region: Spain
Details: Same story. Btw, I love the logo of this site 😀

brankwan

MacBook Model : Late 2011 15″ Macbook Pro AMD Radeon HD 6770M
Serial Number: C02GM656DV7P
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country: Singapore
Details: Macbook hung after going to sleep. Rebooted into a distorted screen. Tried clearing PRAM and SMC but now the boot goes into a grey screen with fan hitting high RPM and temperature increasing. Checked the forum and found so many people having same issues. Apple should seriously look at this problem.

Christoffer Sörensen

First, thanks for the initiative to this website! I’m also upset with the product quality and the treatment from Apple.

Apple ID: moloken at gmail . com
MacBook Model: Early 2011, 15″
Serial Number: C02G417PDRJL
Case Number: n/a
Country or Region: Bought in Denmark, located in Sweden
Details: One day the computer turned itself off without any notice. After rebooting I got problem with gray lines over the whole screen. Later the computer just froze and then I was unable to reboot. Just gray screen of death and no booting up. I tried to boot up on a usb memory to re-install macos, but when the installer is supposed to start the gray lines (or blue lines) over the screen show up. The certified Apple technician could run a diagnostic test and the hardware seemed to be fine. But he couldn’t boot up and start a macos install. He could boot up on some kind of software that didn’t use the graphics and because of that he came to the conclusion that the logic board / graphics card is broken. The computer is approximately 2 years and 4 months old.

Apple ID (If you can provide): jfparodi5@yahoo.com.ar
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: 15″ A1286 i7 2.2 Ghz, late 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GY1UNDV7L
Case Number (If you can provide): n/a
Country or Region: Argentina
Details: Bought in Costa Rica in february 2012, troubles started IN THE 5TH MONTH and Apple replaced my logic board, it was in warranty. July 2013 started to have the same problems that most of the users report here, blue screen, unable to boot, freezes randomly, stripes or blank screen (gray, black). Not booting. Problem with ATI Radeon. I sent it to service and they fixed just for another 2 months and now they have told me that I have to replace the logicboard, which I won’t do after seeing that it’ll happen again very soon.
I paid more than U$2200 for this computer, and it does not seem reasonable that in 1 and a half year I have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get it fixed, or buy a new one.

Ben

Apple ID: beenhero
MacBook Model: 2011 late 15′
Serial Number : W89081UK1AQ
Case Number :
Country or Region: China
Details: MacBook Pro bought on December 2011, it started showing the issue by 12/3/2013. On 12/5/2013 it is no longer booting.

BTBlueSkies

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number C02FT11WDF93
Case Number :
Country or Region: USA
Details: Much the same as everyone else. When using the non ATI card it works, but when using the ATI card it blue screens, screen corruption, crashes on boot, won’t boot, etc. Aggravating.

Brandon

MacBook Model : 2011 Late 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FDM62DF8X
Country or Region: Puerto Rico
Details: I purchased my MBP during May 2011. About 2 or 3 weeks ago I first experienced this problem (2 years after purchase). My MBP suddenly froze and I had to hard reset it, when it came back up strange horizontal red lines appeared and it would not pass that point. I tried resetting the RAM, running the fsck -fy command but the only way I get it to boot completely is using Safe Mode. When in Safe Mode I get 6 vertical stripes of about an inch thick. I really hope Apple does something about this or they will lose another customer for good.

Yu-Hao Peng

Apple ID: newman814
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro 2013 Early 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FFKTFDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide): R101264855
Country or Region: USA
Details: I have the same problem with you guys. I paid $330 USD for replacing logic board.

John Liu

Apple ID :johnliu33@gmail.com
MacBook Model :2011 Late 15″
Serial Number :C02FFMN3DF8V
Case Number 549421012:
Country or Region:Taiwan
Details:
Can’t boot, white screen.I have paid about USD 600 to fix the logic board and broken and continuously replaced it within one month for 3 times and can’t be fixed. My machine is Now still in the Apple retailer store and waiting for it’s 4th logic board.
Call the service phone and complained everything.
Sign:( What can I say.

zwolu

I think Apple will wait until the end of the guarantee of a majority of defective computers and then open exchange program for the few, to limit their losses. Alternatively, they will not do anything, hoping that we will buy additional products.

Neal

Apple ID : jiachao91@hotmail.com
MacBook Model [MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
2.2 I-7 CPU
AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB
Serial Number: C02HD28LDV7M
Case Number .
Purchased in JBHIFI in World Square, Sydney AUSTRALIA.
Details: Described just like other users. I was possible to run safe boot but now the macbook is dead. When I boot now there is only a blue screen.

It cost 1900 shekels (about $530), I could not wait any longer, the laptop was tanking almost every day on graphics switching and I couldn’t resurrect it for over an hour or two at a time.

The local Apple franchisee in Tel Aviv (idigital.co.il) claimed to have no knowledge of the problem (the same as the Apple genius who I saw when I was in the USA) and proposed a charge of approximately $500 for “lab-testing” before finding any possible fix.

Same! Class action seems to be the way to get attention to this matter. Can we somehow get the “Genius” label to me something more appropriate. They do not seem to be all that “Genius-y” to me. More like “mindless-puppet-automaton”. What a racket Apple has going here eh?

DavidWu

The same problem:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
SN： C02FDAG7DF8X

My MB Pro 2011 i7 15″ with the 6750 chip also failed, I bought in Hong Kong in 2011. It can’t even boot now! The genius told me the only way is to replace a mainboard, but it is very expensive (>$700)…

Anybody tell me how to fix it? I have report this prolem to Apple, the issue number is 553495165, I hope Apple can recall these mbps… the executives of Apple will see these websites yet?

graffydesign

Apple ID: office@gjfilm.co.uk
MacBook Model : 2011 Late 15″
Serial Number: C02GHN8FDV7L
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: UK / Europe
Details:
My macbook pro died of the GPU problem second times in one months .
Of course out of warranty
I paid £500 for the repair first time. Got 12 month warranty on the motherboard. The machine is in the service place again .

Kurt Munroe

I plugged my camera into the USB port and got a message that the USB ports were shut down to prevent damage. A red light would also sometimes come on inside the speaker/headphone jack. When that happens there is no sound. The other ports/outlets appear to be fine. I went to Apple and they actually had the nerve to say they never heard of the problem before and told me it would cost US$350 to repair. Does anyone have a solution?

Joe, really?! This is about corrupted video, not sound issues. You are polluting the comments that count in trying to get Apple to address this issue that prevents people from actually using their computers, not just listening to audio. Moderator, please get rid of the useless comments on this page.

Joel Webster

Apple ID: quozman@yahoo.com
MacBook Model [Macbook Pro, late 2011] 15″ i7, 2.4GHZ
Serial Number: C02HD2CNDV7P
Case Number:
Country or Region: UK
Details:
Purchased brand new machine in March 2011. Although I’d noticed the odd glitch, real problems occurred in December 2013 whilst using Logic.
The computer glitched and hung on distorted graphics. Since then I have experienced all the same problems experienced by other users. Slow boot, blue, black, grey, white, striped screen. Intermittent start up regardless of safe mode, PRAM, SMC resets etc. Haven’t been to see a ‘genius yet as I’m not convinced they deserve the same tag applied to the likes of Einstein or Tesla. And on reading the comments on this page I’m not convinced that’s the solution to this problem. It would appear it’s a hardware issue (graphics card maybe?) A ‘genius’ would not try to fix an un-fixable problem but simply apply themselves to creating a solution to the problem.
I’ve only ever owned Mac’s and have never experienced such problems in the past. Even the dog of a mirror door G4 is still hanging in after ten years of heavy labour.
Apple should take this issue seriously if they value the loyalty of their long term customers. I for one am considering alternatives if Apple refuse to address this obvious and widespread problem.

Apple ID (If you can provide): vlad IdotI gidea IatImac.com
MacBook Model: early 2011, 15inch, 2.2ghz
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02F888BDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Denmark
Details:

The graphic card is failing like everyone else. Screen errors, sometimes it doesn’t want to open after shutdown, overheats.

I changed the thermo-paste and I was very careful. I can reball it but I;m waiting for Apple to say something… I am very very pissed

Victor Galibert

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Late 2011 15”
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GH9L7DV7L
Case Number (If you can provide): R111966983
Country or Region: France
Details: Apple took my Laptop under warranty to change the Logic Board due to the fail of the AMD GPU (even if it was out of warranty so it was already a first win). However only two days after getting it back (and a clean install of Mavericks), it crashed again. I know have 90 days warranty on the repairs so going back to the Apple Store tomorrow .

Apple ID (If you can provide): vittone at gmail dot com
MacBook Model: early 2011, 15inch, 2.2ghz
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Spain
Details:
I bought it in May 2011, and always has issues but I always assume that were software related (I was wrong). In July 2013, video problems appeared, the same as the pictures in this website. I went to an official support and they recommend to repair/replace the logic board, I had to pay more than 500 euros for it. After 4 months, I can’t even start the machine, I get a black screen after the gray screen is shown for a couple of seconds.

Apple, you are not listening your users, and it’s completely your responsaility to respond. ASAP!

J

On deciding to visit the ‘genius’ bar, went online to book an appointment. This process failed twice (apparently due to no available slots). Decided to phone my local Apple store to see if I could book slot over the phone. Was told they use the same process that customers would use (booking online with Apple login info), so they couldn’t help but said Apple support could arrange a slot for me to see a ‘genius’.
Once through to Apple support, told them machine type (MacBook pro, late 2011, bought in March 2012) etc., and explained problem (as mentioned numerous times on this page). Also asked if Apple were aware of the problems with these machines. I was told Apple were aware.
As for booking a slot to see the ‘genius’, I was told there aren’t any in my locality and I should try to book again online at midnight with the same process that didn’t allow me to book a slot in the first place! Am I going around in circles here? So, at this point I don’t even know when I can actually take my MBP to see the Apple ‘genius’.
Nevertheless, I will wait until the witching hour and try my luck again in the vain hope that someone @ Apple actually gives a ****!

Peter

MacBook Model: late 2011 Mbp 15
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Germany
Details: same issue, blue screen, can’t get past the login screen anymore

Tamas

I had the exact same problem… Its incredible that Apple make such crappy quality computers… I bought the machine in Hong Kong, but I live in Hungary, i took it to the local official Apple service point, they told me its GPU problem (i was already aware..) and the offered a logic board replacement for 900 usd (i hungarian currency)… its ridiculous since the computer barely worth that much after 2,5 years… They should extend the warranty!! they are the biggest tech company in the world, bug margin on products, they should spend a few million on this, its their fault… I was thinking about to buy a new retina mbp but i have serious doubts now to buy such an overpriced product…. btw I took it to an unofficial service, they reballed my GPU, cleaned the motherboard and everything works fine now!! it was 200 usd…. still, apple should extend warranty and pay for everybody, most customers are not aware of their options, and official apple service know shit….

What I tried so far:
– PRAM reset
– SMC reset
– different OS
– turn the macbook on with lower room temperature

Took it to our local apple distributer (iDigital Israel), The ‘Genius’ there ran some diagnostic software which did not find any problem with my macbook (while testing, the screen was all greenish with vertical lines over it, so, they could not say that there was no problem).
The genius offered a logic board replacement. since I knew the problem would resurface I just bought a new mac mini, without any discrete graphics chip.
I HAD to buy the mac mini because of my work…
Also, replacing the logic board would have cost me about 60% of a new mac mini price (already had an external screen and keyboard)

Coorabin

Apple ID (If you can provide): Coorabin@msn.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: MBP 15, 2009 Mac OS X (10.6.6) Early 2009
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FCU6GDF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Purchased in Hong Kong (however I reside in Shenzhen)

Details: today is Jan 17 2014. For about three months now I my MBP screen flickers and goes to black (sometimes I can see top screen 8mm fuzy) I have to press the start button down for 4-8 secs to turn off and try restarting. From the first instance it would restart and work fine for upto a week. However now it is a daily occurance and once I have a few programs running it goes to a grey/black screen. I have tried leaving it, hoping it might correct itself, however usually it will start to emit a loud huming noise before finally quiting all together. Now it will take upto 8 restarts before it loads into the user account propper. What I mean is it always loads to where you can select the user profile. (I have two user profiles and the Guest).

I’ve read so much about others with the same issue (and not just the 2008 model) After paying HKD 17000 + Apple care, I was expecting more in the way Apple has addressed this problem. Especially since the machine has auytomatically sent crash reports to Apple.

If someone has located a good repair shop in Shenzhen that can replace the logic board, please email me with the details.
It seems the only option is to replace logic board and hope to get lucky and have a few more years out of it.

Coorabin

Further to my earlier post: It’s Feb 6th 2014 and my Macbook Pro 15″ is useless. All issues as I described before (see my Jan 14 post.) Once every few days I try again to start it up. It goes to the user account selection screen without problem, however usually ends up at blank screen after a minute or so of trying to load into the user account. On a rare occasion like today it will load into the user account, only to crash after I have load a pdf or some other graphics reliant task.

I noted today that the battery is not functioning now after so many start- crash/stop – restarts. I see in the About this Mac” system section that battery is no longer functioning.

Indeed I have done a load of reading online about so many others with same Macbook problems “logic board” issue.
Most replacement of logic board solution posts state that the problem reappears after a few months or so.
This Macbook Pro (MBP) purchase of mine was not a small expense ( I mean I could have bought two or three laptops of similar size & spec from the Other Brands at the time) I have to try to replace the logic board, not just wait for Apple to respond/act or give up.

Fortunately I am residing in Shenzhen, and after a search online I see Alibaba has many logic board suppliers in this area.
Will make contact and arrange for replacement –

Now I feel like I own a Macboob Pro and I am the MACBOOB IDIOT who has been ripped off by Apple. I can never again recommend to anyone to by an Apple laptop as there is no good reason to recommend a low quality item at such a high price and such non-existent service or responsibility.

Ever since I started using this machine, every couple weeks to couple of months it would freeze with graphics glitches.

This week, it started happening more often. 2-3 times per day. 2 days ago, the screen started flickering wildly, and culminated in purple/pink vertical lines covering my DisplayPort monitor, and blue ones covering the internal display.

When attempting to boot, I see light gray/blue vertical lines in the Apple logo. I can boot in verbose mode for a short while, then the screen turns blue with vertical lines. I cannot boot normally any more; only Target Disk Mode works. Recovery mode also does not work.

I tried swapping out both the disk and DRAM and have narrowed it down definitively to the video chipset.

jstastny

My 2011 15″ mbp with HD6750 started making some weird reboots after about two years, however I’m not sure if they were graphics-related, as I can play graphics-intensive games without problems. In spite of this, I am going to replace this laptop as soon as possible, to avoid any future misfortunes. Needless to say, I am through with Apple machines.

tunagtkevin

Apple ID (If you can provide):tunagtkevin@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:A1286, Early 2011 MacBook Pro (15-inch)
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02FHCLZDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):no
Country or Region:china, buy it from hongkong at April 2011
Details:花屏，win7系统安全模式可以开机，OSX基本开不了机，白屏。

gobstopper

Details: I experienced the same problems as everyone else. I took my computer to apple 60days before my apple care expires. I took photos of the problem, which was not enough. I had to convince the genius that the issue I was experiencing was in fact happening by recreating it at the store. The MBP did not fail this task. After 10min of poking it went out with a bang or rather a loud digital scream. The sound pulsed for several seconds, similar to the drone from Oblivion. It startled me enough to push back my chair from the bar and consider that the MBP might explode next. After that they took it away and told me it might be 10days until I see it again. I asked for a replacement computer to hold me over. They said that apple does not provide that service. I hope that apple admits to selling a poor quality product. I agree with everyone here that you should not need to by apple care for a product to protect yourself from the company not making a good product in the first place. It seems to be the trend at apple lately. I think computer hardware should last 5 years with out defect under normal use. I luckily bought apple care for the first time with this computer. At the moment it appears that apple cannot make a product that is guarantied to last for longer than 2 years. I take excellent care of my electronics and have not been able to get past 2 years with anything that apple has made in the last 5 years. This is why I bought apple care with the 2011 laptop. In the end I now have my laptop back the logic board was replaced item: 605-2785 and the battery item: 616-0583

92807USA

Oh my bad luck. On Friday I ordered 16 GB RAM and 2 SSDs to upgrade my May 2011 MBP and squeeze out a few more years. Then, on Sunday I read about this issue and viewed this blog. And Monday morning, my MBP black-screened! And today, Tuesday, I received my RAM and SSDs – useless now.

wwboy

Same issue here.
Macbook Pro 15″ – Feb 2011 order
No case number yet.
Haven’t contacted apple yet; Local authorized repairman says needs new logic board to the tune of $$$$.
Problem only intermittent so far.
Using gfxstatus to keep it on Integrated chip.

kikko088

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: Early 15” gpu 1gb
Serial Number (If you can provide):c02g41g2drjm
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region:Italy
Details: blue screen with black line, after reboot gray screen and fun at max rpm, delete cache and reboot, screen on external screens mode.

jacqie

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: Early 2011, 17″ 2.2GHz i7 running Mavericks 10.9.1
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: Same as everyone else since Dec 2013. Freezes when on the AMD chip. White screen on startup then fans start whirring like crazy and machine heats up. Problem got progressively worse even with GFX status installed. No longer starts-up even into safe mode, repeated NVRAM/PRAM resets etc. Tried everything. Gave up. Now I have a VERY expensive brick! No apple in Malaysia, only AASPRs. Technician acknowledges the GPU failure is a known problem with 2011 15″ & 17″. Cost to replace my flawed logic board with yet another flawed logic board is a prohibitive RM2500. I’ll only get 3 months warranty with a high chance of the problem recurring again. That’s not even considered a REPAIR.
APPLE, this is SHIT! Start your recall programme NOW.

JimmyJammy

After intermittent graphics problems began to occur, here is the current state of this expensive machine:

Under Normal boot, from Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard, Recover Disc, or USB boot, the computer will freeze on a Grey Screen after the dashed line wheel spin. As the computer is trying to boot up, thick Pink vertical lines display across the screen.

Details: The screen began to show vertical lines, or do weird things such as blacking out, flickering, remaining static, sometimes allowing me to move the cursor, other completely dead. When I restart, sometimes the screen continues doing strange things even when there’s just the grey apple logo before restarting (also with vertical lines). Sometimes it works for a few hours, other times it crashes every ten minutes or less. I reinstalled OS X Mavericks. The first time it crashed in the middle of the reinstallation. When I finally managed to install it, it crashed less than half an hour after beginning to use it. As we all do, I demand a solution. Thanks for this website and good luck to everyone.

mokies

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model : early 2011 15″ macbook pro with 6750M gpu
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FC17DDF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Australia
Details: unable to boot past boot disk options menu. Experienced screen banding artifacts, before laptop lapsed into total system failure. Used with apple thunderbolt display, now both for all practical purposes useless. Extremely reluctant to get the MBP repaired as there seems a great likelihood of future failures. I expect this will be my last apple product, our household has easily spent over $10k on apple products over the years.

aspnclls

Apple ID:bixbeys@gmail.com
MacBook Model :15″ Mid 2011
Serial Number : C02G48N1DRJC
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: Same problem, have sent it to an authorised service center (No official Apple in Malaysia). Problem got progressively worst in 4 days, and has now not even able to boot to recovery. A serious hardware/design flaw and Apple should start recognising it. I dont really mind paying if it does get permanently fixed. Ive got an emotional attachment to my mbp and is a source of income. Apple has forgotten about their pro users, and I’ll probably just do work on a piece of rock from now on, at least those cave paintings last thousands of years.

allymac

MACBOOK MODEL: 2011 15″
SERIAL NUMBER: CO2FWBEEDF8V
COUNTRY: Bought in UK, currently in South Korea
DETAILS: Over the last 6 months the computers been overheating quite a bit, even when its been doing nothing. A few days ago I tried to open a video file for work and BAM, distorted screen. After a few minutes I was forced to reboot. Everything was fine until an hour later I opened a website and then the screen turned to a festive green and red striped mess. I again rebooted but this time in safe mode, took about 30 minutes before it happened again. My MBP is now a very expensive paper weight. Im returning to the UK in a few months and for now must use a horrid PC at work and my kindle fire and phone at home. I need my MBP for work and if apple thinks Im going to simply shrug and pay for fixing, they…are….insane. As I work freelance I have all the time in the world to sue their asses. No way an expensive piece of technology like this should break after 2 years and with so many others out there, we should be getting shiny new replacements with compensation. I wont be shrugging this one off.

MontyBurns

Apple ID: –
MacBook Model : early 2011 15″ macbook pro with 6750M gpu
Serial Number: C02FK6K6DF8V
Country or Region: Russia
Details: I bought the laptop at the end of summer of 2011. Two and a half years of problems weren’t, but problems with the video adapter began few weeks ago, same as are described above. I used the laptop generally under Windows 7. It isn’t possible to work now at it, the screen dies away and hangs after a while. I count that such reputable company as Apple will help to resolve a problem free of charge in spite of the fact that the guarantee already ended (Logicboard replacement in Russia will cost about $1000.).

MontyBurns

dotherightthing

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: MacBookPro8,2 Early 2011 15”
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics Cards: AMD Radeon HD 6750M / Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB
SMC Version (system): 1.69f4
Serial Number: C02FL0U5DF91
Case Number:
Country or Region: UK
Details:
Bought the more expensive model for its graphics capabilities, but ironically, now that I finally get round to more intensive graphics work I cannot use the AMD card, as it seems to be responsible for all the trouble…
Experienced irregular freezes (requiring hard reboots) over the past 1-2 years, but the situation has recently become much worse. Now, after a hard-reboot there appears either some pixelation or horizontal step-lines across the boot screen, after which the laptop remains on a grey screen without reaching login. Spent a lot of time reinstalling Snow Leopard, upgrading to Mavericks and diagnosing the system, after coming to the same conclusion as many others that the crashes are graphics related. While I definitely want to use the AMD card, I’ve tried to disable its use via the Energy Saver preference pane and gfxCardStatus, but without any lasting results. Hope there is some official response to all the unsatisfied customers soon.

Whilst keeping an eye on the threads of the ASC, I thought that I was immune to the problem because I had a Late 2011 model manufactured in February of 2012. It just hit me all at once, though: my Apple Thunderbolt Display went black, my MBP screen went black and I tried everything that I could think of. Some tries brought up vertical black & blue bands, running the AHT, I saw horizontal lines in the text. Booting from Internet Recovery brought back the black and blue vertical lines. I couldn’t boot from any device (and I’ve three clones on site at all times). Took it to the Apple Store and finally got to talk to a tech. He agreed that the problem was with the GPU and replaced the logic board – gratis since I am still under AppleCare until April of 2015.

I’m just afraid that my board is going to go out again at any time now. I’ve been a Mac user since 1985 yet I’ve never encountered a problem so prevalent that Apple didn’t issue some sort of fix. If I decide to keep this machine after my AppleCare wanes, I’ll try to go the “new GPU/reball” route, I’m thinking.

clebermachado

MacBook Model :
– MBP. 15-inch, Early 2011.
– Model Name: MacBook Pro
– Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
– Processor 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7
– Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FLAMEDF8V
Country or Region: USA
Details: GPU malfunction. The computer started overheating for any usage. Then last time I tried to use another screen it started glitching and gave me the blue screen with vertical lines. I am in a Mac Store right now and just registered the problem. They want to charge me $310, flat rate to fix any problems in my computer. I want to see if we can get the recall.
The problem is too recurrent to be a sporadic or malfunction in one or other MBP. 3 years it is too little for such an investment (around $2,000). A MBP should give at least 5 years with moderate usage. I have MBP working for 7, 8 years after a lot of bumps on the road (kids, falling, even the hard drive still works perfectly… just changing the battery and works like new! – with a lot of dings! ! LOL).
APPLE ANSWERS US!!!!!

gulshngill

Apple ID : gulshn.gill@gmail.com
MacBook Model : 15″ Early 2011 (AMD Radeon HD 6490M model)
Serial Number: C02FDAWJDF8V
Country: Malaysia
Details: Macbook died out of nowhere. When I try to boot it up, it loads until the apple logo followed by a white screen. I can’t boot into any other modes. My brother’s Acer laptop is a lot older than this laptop and it’s still running fine to this day. A lot of money was invested into this and the only proper thing to do is to have a recall of the model since is a common problem in the 2011 models.

caru

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro 8,2 Early 2011 15” (MC721LL/A)
Serial Number:
Case Number:
Country or Region: Italy
Details: after the computer is powered on, in a few seconds it gets into a blue screen. No way to boot. Macbook dead. It happened suddenly, didn’t notice any kind of glitches before the issue cropped up.

baleares

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model MacBook Pro 8,2 Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region:Spain
Details:Fuzzy coloured lines began appearing on display after 2 years progressively got worse and will now not boot. Fucking angry, cost me Euros 2.5K with custom 7200rpm and anti glare screen. cunts.

Lone HM

Apple ID (If you can provide): Won’t provide initially
MacBook Model [Macbook Pro 2011 (Early | 15”)
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FXBYYDF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: DK
Details: Screen blurred and shut off, on reboot simply hangs on grey screen which has pixelated redlines. Can startup in safe mode and sometimes in the normal mode but will in normal mode crash after 2-5 mins when work begins.. Have had the Macbook for 2 years and some months, warrenty expired and I’m a student working with graphic design………….

aoaoho

Details:
I was had this problem at 1 week ago.
It start after apple logo appear on the screen it’s hangs on grey screen, can’t boot up the OS anymore.
I am trying to boot from “Recovery HD”, the screen goes blue and there are black vertical lines on it.(BTW: the hard drive works perfectly with other laptaps.)

I was called Apple Store, they want to charge me ¥7000～8000 CNY to replace the Logic Board!
Less than 3 years it is too little for such an investment (around $2,400)!!

donQ

MacBook Model: Late 2011 15”
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: Issue happen since 2012 after few months using it where the screen will turn to light pink when it switch to discrete graphics. It is no use to play games as the GPu heat will make the fans scream out only after 1-2 minutes when the games turn on. The machines total can’t boot up yesterday night 18/2/2014 when the screen hang while I watch a embedded movie on the facebook side. I reboot it and never able to boot it up again with symtomps like unable to go into safe mode (combination key of command + R), unable to go into recover console (option key), it straight go into deep blue screen with black vertical line. Have gone through the single user mode and do repair on the disk drive, everything is ok for disk drive. The left upper side of the laptop base is screaming hot during long boot time at grey screen after the apple logo + spinning wheel. Apple, please do a global recall on the GPU + Logic if this is a large scale defects of 2011 Macbook pro production, else new generation will forgo your proud declaration of quality product build this long by your founder!

moto

Apple ID :
MacBook Model MC721LL/A – A1286 (15″ 2 GHz Intel i7, early 2011)
Serial Number (C02F46***F8V):
Case Number (apple dossier 576309184):
Country or Region: FRANCE
Details: Purchased March 2011, same stuff going on since early feb 2014, can’t use any apps requiring graphics (Aperture, Dreamweaver etc…..), system crashing, Blue screen on startup, need to boot in ‘safe mode’, if I click/ unclick “Automatic graphics switching” in System prefs/ Energy Saver machine crashes immediately……….. looking back, I’ve often had problems (blue screen, crashing) when quitting Aperture/ Final Cul Pro etc., I put this down to software glitches but now think it was all related to this issue

apassero

MacBook Model: (Early 2011) 15″ i7 2.2ghz radeon hd 6750m A1286 –
Serial Number: C02FR2***F91
Country or Region: italy
Details:
The mac does not start and stop on a white screen after the apple. Occasionally this white screen is replaced by a black screen or a blue screen with lines also when I try to launch it in safe mkde. When the mac starts normally, before the appearance of the login screen you can see a strong image noise that it reappears when it is put under stress the GPU. Sometimes the computer freezes completely even under conditions of normal use despite having been installed gfxCardStatus and with whom is daily except the discrete card.

Since the errors have also occured in Bootcamp (and similarily to OS X, Windows fails to load after the first graphical glitch), I know this is not a software issue, but rather, a hardware one. I have even had Windows BSOD on boot-up as a result of the graphics card (as indicated by the crash dump info). I have always noted minor graphical blips and occasionally Photoshop would nag me that there was an error with the graphics card driver, but there didn’t seem to be anything terribly wrong graphics-wise until a few days ago, when everything crashed and burned within an hour. Interestingly, the computer boots up fine into both OS X Lion’s built-in Recovery HD and Windows’s Safe Mode–probably because those use integrated Intel graphics and not the discrete AMD Radeon graphics card to run.

Dropped it off yesterday at the Genius Bar for repairs, but given how many times I had to go in for hard drive issues before the real problem was addressed (instead of applying a “band-aid” fix), I have my doubts as to whether or not getting it repaired by Apple will actually help.

blazh

blue screen, dead GPU, finally I convinced myself that Apple products are not better then any other products on the market. Only thing that makes Apple products different on the market is that their price is not confirmed by quality.

I have my old Lenovo laptop which is 6 years old and it still works – that is quality, not this expensive shit!

philopek

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model : Macbook Pro _ Mid-2011_ 15”:
Serial Number : C02G40RJDRJM
Case Number : many by now
Country or Region: Guandong Province, PRC
Details: problem as described many times, crash with problems to reboot,
graphic glitches, black or striped screen and sometimes split screen
worst of all is that first they sent me home after a 200km drive to the apple store
due lack of appointment, how would i know that i need one in the first case and the
how would i know before when my mac will gonna die on me and do they even consider
that some people don’t use a mac as a toy but as a working toolk almost 24/7 ?
battery replacement took me 5 days without computer, had to buy a second machine for that
because they refused to order the battery without having the machine in the store ?????????

however back on topic, after another authorized dealer encountered the glitch once, he
gave me the machine back after 10 days and said that he cold not reproduce a second time ?????
since we all know that it happens only under load with high temps and running certain apps which
would trigger the discrete GPU ??? i think he whether did not have any idea about the so well known problem
and/or wanted to avoid to have one more similar case. however no i found out myself and will repair
at a german specialist while in germany in may. will not shove more money down their throat as a reward
for failing in producing quality and for really helping customers in a reasonable non-arrogant way.

however right now i run the machine with “discrete” off thus on intel buillt in as long as possible and
reboot a minimum times to avoid that hassle.

further that glitch destroid my SSD which is also a thing to keep in mind, while a harddrive often fails slowly
with a warning time and mostly data can be retrieved with some effort, that ssd failure caused by a graphic
glitch made me replace the SSD with a 1TB harddrive and i will keep it that way as long as i have a choice.
albeit i have 5 on-site and 4 offsite backups it takes me about a week to reconfigure entirely if the second
machine is not identical to the main device which is rarely the case, who has 2 identical devices ??????

however this is for sophisticated configs and obviously, with the masses came the replacement of a tool by a toy.
just watch their adverts and presentations, non of those toyish features serves a working environment while
the main features which make the difference for a working tool remain ummentioned.

further i complain on every opportunity that while in the middle of a rainforest ( without internet ) it would be
close to impossible to re-store to a replacement harddrive or any other way to install osx to a new drive or machine without internet connection. i know that is rare but it’s still an annoyance and even if internet connections
are widely accessible, they are sometimes very costly in the GB range necessary to install a system, not even talking about stability and speed of connections in some places.

there would be more but that’s about my portion to let steam off for today, hope it’s still readable and
not offensive for any one. sooner or later there will be a market for something better or equally good from somenone with decent motivation to please customers but certainly not to shy them off at all means. good luck.

Hong84

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model : MBP 15″ early 2011, 6490M, i7
Serial Number : C02G10YNDF8Y
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: Image distortion and freeze when running with discrete graphic. Sent to local authorized service centre for diagnose and the “genius” over there said it was caused by faulty battery. I paid for battery replacement and still the same old spoilt MBP. Good job “genius”.

telekrischi

Apple ID : n/a
MacBook Model : 2011 Early | 15″
Serial Number :
Case Number :
Country or Region: Germany
Details:
Started with “grey screen” while booting. Increasing fan speed while the system stucks to the “grey screen”. Occasionally some reboots where successful but after switching into power safe mode the system was unavailable again. Tried several times to boot in safe mode with occasional luck. Changed the new SSD back to the original HDD without any positive results. If lucky with rebooting it starts after some minutes with frequent banding/discolouration randomly occurs on screen while running or while starting up, eventually becoming unresponsive.

aldar

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: Macbook pro Early 2011
Serial Number: C02G54CSDRJM
Case Number: 581984522
Country or Region: Greece
Details: Nothing new to add! Same problem here. It only took a couple of days after the first sympoms appeared, before my macbook pro early 2011 refused to boot. Apple guy on the phone had no idea what it might be and the premium reseller iSquare (there’s no apple in Greece) asked me to pre-pay 590€ in order to order the logic board and replace it. This is the second time it happens to me. The first was with a macbook pro early 2008. Same problem there (nVidia gpu)! I replaced the logic board twice: The first one I paid for it, the second one was for free!!! I think I’ ll switch to DELL and install linux on it…

RAdaixo

———————————————- FOUND A “SOLUTION” ———————————————–
at your own responsibility

Although not perfect here it goes:

My mbp has 2 graphic cards, one is an intel integrated 512Mb and this one is not damaged; second board is a discrete 1Gb ATI board and from what I have read this is the source of the problem for a lot (if not all) users experiencing this problem.

Can you work with the 512Mb board? Theoretically yes, in fact it’s a better solution than having your mbp dead. It will not be as before if you need to run Adobe CS or Illustrator or if you are a gamer, still, it makes your mbp start up and work. So, how do you make your mbp “forget” he even has that burned board?

1- Go to /System/Library/Extensions

2- Copy all files starting with AMD (on a command line you can simply type AMD*) to your desktop

Hadhops

MacBook Model : MBP Early 2011 15”
Serial Number :C02F88YXDF8V
Country or Region: Australia
Details: Exactly as described by previous posters- when using iPhoto, Photobooth, photoshop, or connecting an external display the screen goes black and machine is unresponsive.
I reset the PRAM and SMC and I can get it to boot (sometimes just to a grey screen) other times I can use it fine for minor apps or web browsing until I engage in any kind of graphics intensive processes, then black screen again. Arrgghh!

RAdaixo

plind

Apple ID: [rather not]
MacBook Model: Early 2011, 15″, 2GHz Core i7, OS X 10.9.2
Serial Number: C02FC5FBDF8Y
Country or Region: The Netherlands, Europe
Details:
Recently, I have had random reboots. That seemed to have stopped after an SMC reset. What I;m seeing now is different: hangups with a blank white screen. And just now a hangup with a screen with small vertical pink stripes. Great. Still got to figure out what I’m going to do with it.

yan926

Apple ID (If you can provide): yan926 at gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: mbp 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Taiwan
Details: I had this issue, and now my mbp cannot use ……

Art

MBP was bought in summer of 2011. Several days ago (march 2014) suddenly the screen image became distorted. And now every time, when MacBook want to switch from Intel HD3000 to AMD Radeon 6750M (for example: all Adobe programs; all games; just many opened tabs of browsers etc), i getting the blue screen with vertical lines (like screen of the top image in the right-down).

It still work, but only on the integrated GPU. And there is no way, that i can to work with my external Thunderbolt display: if i plug an external monitor it’s immediately causing crash.
It’s awfull…

Tanja

MacBook Model: Early 2011, 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FD1GNDF8Y
Case Number (If you can provide): –
Country or Region: Germany
Details: same problem as everyone. i had graphic error. now i can’t boot anymore. black or white or blue screen after startup.

Same problems … One day I booted my Mac and the screen was a fuzzy red, haven’t yet reached the blue or gray screen scenario but am dreading the day.

I have complained to Apple, nothing happened! I am a Graphic Designer by trade so to loose my computer has been a huge detriment to my work. I am also living and working in China and to purchase a new Mac is about 3 months worth of wages for me!! Apple needs to realise that not everyone has a few thousand to spare sitting in their banks to up and buy a new Apple product the second it comes out or the old one fails.

I am SO disappointed in Apples attitude to this problem. I have since gone back to using an old (5years old) Lenovo I had sitting around. Thankfully my partner is some what of a computer tech minded person, so we are trying to back up my Mac and install Umbuntu on it to see if that will override the graphics problem. I have read that other ppl have tried this and it seemed to work, so I will keep you all posted.

I would love to buy another Mac because I do love the the style, functionality and clearness of the graphics whilst working with Photoshop etc, but this latest experience has made me rethink my loyalty to Apple. Which sucks because I really dislike Windows and really don’t want to put the time in to learn how to manage a Linux system.

Deeply saddened by Apples lack of respect for their customers, if it wasn’t for us they wouldn’t exist!!!!

kktingal

Apple ID: (rather not)
MacBook Model: Early 2011 Macbook pro 17inch
Serial Number (If you can provide): c02f9he****2
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: India
Details: I get these green vertical lines as soon as I start my computer.The computer freezes and does not function So i Have to forcefully shut down 4-5 times before it starts up normally.
This thing happens every now and then rather 3-4 times a day.
It is very disturbing and apple should see to it.Or maybe we should sue them together.

maniacsmo

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: MacBook Pro 17″ / Early 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FQ0G3DF93
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: AUSTRIA
Details:
– problems as described by everyone else.
– problems started when changing vom HDD to SDD and update to Mavericks around end of February 2014
– i still can reboot and get OSX started to work
– sometimes more than 4 tries to reboot are neccessary to get it to work
– tried to cool it with 3000rpms via smcFanControl
– sometimes it runs a whole day and after sleep-mode some time later it crashes
– Photoshop is warning on start that some GPU-component is not working right
– sometimes Photoshop crahses the system, sometimes it works (warning is always coming!)
– experiencing lags using wifi while surfing (Firefox and Safari), don’t know if this behaviour is attached

THANKS for trying to get us heard!!!
in need of a solution – not a new macbook – love my 17″ macbookpro

Sebastian Vasquez

Apple ID: Rather not
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro 15” Late 2011
Serial Number: C02HF2XTDV7M
Country or Region: Santiago, Chile (but bought in NY, USA)
Details: Yesterday (april 2, 2014) while viewing a video on youtube the screen froze, and when I tried to reboot never started again, it just went to the apple logo (with strange green lines across the screen) and then it stays in a grey screen. This situation repeated each time I tried to boot the computer.

Dreamson

leopan

Apple ID (If you can provide):Leo Pan
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:Early 15″ MC723
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02FD9SADF91
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region:China
Details:Same as every with the same model(MC723),the display card failure after 2 years,I had replaced the logic board on Oct 14 2013,after few month,the problem shows up again yesterday(Apirl 12 2014),just after the replacement within 5 month!!!How can we deal with that?Is there apple were cheating us?I hope apple will recall all of the early 2011 macbook pros~!!

gavin

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02F8TLKDF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Purchased from US
Details: Distortion, vertical lines, shift, black screen, stuck on boot screen with apple logo and vertical yellow type lines.

When discreet video card is enabled screen freeze al black… unable to boot. SMC reset, AHT can’t find anything. After many restarts able to boot. From the beginning I had all kind of video problems as ghosting of desktop icons (as burned in), green blurring, horizontal red stripes, vertical blue stripes sudden black screen with complete freezing of computer. After some playing around I always have been able to get my computer working again and the above mentioned problem disappear for several months. Right now I can only let my MacBook Pro function in integrated intel 3000 HD Mode, switching to discreet mode mean an immediately freeze of screen and unable to boot. Grey starlike squares while starting up or blue screen after AHT. Waiting for a solution, because just one month out of 2 Year European warranty. I don’t expect Apple Netherlands (I bought directly from them on line) to solve these problems in a decent way, because of earlier bad experiences with former MacBook Pro’s… Most of time traveling… If somebody have a solution other then expensive mother board swapping it will be greatly appreciated.

cyiss

Apple ID (If you can provide):
cyiss
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:
MacBook Pro 15-inch, Late 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide):
C02H31G2DV7M
Case Number (If you can provide):
It happens on a daily bases
Country or Region:
Purchased in Japan
Details:
After updating to Mavericks, the Mac starts to crash randomly, if I try to restart the computer, it first shows a distorted ( graphic lines all over) screen, then enter to a gray screen and stick there until the cpu shuts down by the heat it produces. After the shuting down, it returns normal.
I tried reinstall the OS several times, no luck! The problem repeats every day.
Really glad for being able to enjoy the inconvenience every day!
Thank you, Apple!
May your brand runs as well as my machine!
Thank You!

viokey

MacBook Pro Early 2011 15”
Country or Region: Singapore
Details:
Exactly the same problem (displays problem and failed to start up). Also disappointed about the bad and indifferent attitudes of the customer service. It charged me around $1000 dollar to change the logical board. However, after it was fixed, the problem comes out again recently, which means the product must have defects!

xantilon

Apple ID : on request 67654c07@opayq.com
MacBook Model: Early 15”, highres display
Serial Number: DF8Y
Country or Region: China
Details:
Without warning could not boot anymore – not from any boot media. Showed green lines. Brought it to Shenzhen AppleStore. Sat there with a Genius (two actually) for 1.5h. They managed to boot it, but with green lines and unable to feed external display.
I left it overnight and they replaced the logic board to make sure. Next day I let them reverse the replacement, because CNY4809,- is too pricey. No charge for the service.

I thought, good thing I am in the birth place of all electronics and went to HuaQiangBei to find a non-authorized repair shop. Found several and one managed to fix it in 1h for only CNY300,-. Don’t know what they did, but they didn’t put it in an oven.

Now it is running 2 days fine. I’ll update this post, when it is breaking down again.

Dreamson

Lyza

MacBook Model: late 2011, 15”
Serial Number: SC02HD5PKDV7M
Country or Region: ITALY
Details: same problems you’ve all described. I either have to pay 622euros to replace the logic board or reball it, which costs around 200euros. Don’t know what to do. I did not spend so much money on a computer just to have an apple on my screen.

João Faraco

Apple ID: jpfaraco [at] yahoo [dot] com
MacBook Model: MBP 17″ Early 2011
Serial Number: C02FQ02SDF93
Country or Region: Brazil
Details: Been having rare screen blackouts in the last year, but nothing a restart wouldn’t solve. Today my external monitor went vertical-stripe on me and I can’t connect to it since, without getting graphical glitches and blackouts on both screens, even after I disconnect from it. Hard reset is the only instant fix. Apparently it’s the AMD GPU which gets damaged by heat over time, so there’s not much hope for a fix.

farzan

Apple ID: farzan.doroodgar
MacBook Model: Early 2011
Serial Number: C02GF4SZDRJM
Country or Region: bought in Malaysia failed in Iran
Details:
Started to happen after about 2 years. First it began with a few glitches on the screen after waking up from sleep, it was getting back normal after a soft reboot. After a few months it failed to boot stucking at a gray screen right after apple logo screen. I could come over this problem by upgrading to Mavericks. It worked for me for just one week and then I am again stuck at the gray screen. I have already set to force using intel gpu but seems osx is failing before gfxGpu… startsup. I understand hardware failure can occure even for a brand-new device and we are going to take the risk if we have not extended applecare but obviously it is a hardware-design defect which is affecting large number of customers therefore it should be handled by a different way than usual Apple customer care.

farzan

Forgot to mention my WiFi also stopped working approximately at the same time first gpu problems started to happen. It is showing No hardware found. I have tried almost everything but it seams the problem is a hardware issue since installing Osx didn’t help

lcc

My Early 2011 MBP has the same problems, developed a few days ago. I had no idea this was an issue, and I’m amazed to find out so many people’s Early 2011 MacBook Pros are dying and Apple hasn’t stepped up to make it right. It’s very clearly a known issue and it’s very clearly a manufacturing issue.

MacBook Model: 15″ MacBook Pro Early 2011, 2GHz Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon 6490 256 MB
Country or Region: US
Details: Same as others have described: Erratic screen flicker and shifting (horizontal shift & lines of offset pixels, ghosting). Computer crashes on blue screen w/vertical striping or grey screen. Computer won’t restart (freezes on grey screen). When it does restart (usually in safe mode), GPU can’t handle even the simplest display-related tasks (screen stutters and flickers when repositioning a window on the screen), and eventually crashes (first freezes, then screen goes to grey or blue w/vertical striping). Impossible to do anything graphics-intensive, such as playing video or image editing. This started less than a week ago,, and over the past few days has become rapidly worse: crashing has become more and more frequent, and it becomes more and more difficult to restart the computer.

FranciscoRocha

MacBook Model : Early 2011 | 15″
Country or Region: Porto, Portugal

Details:
It happened the same exact problem with my MacBook Pro 15″ (Early 2011). I bought it in June of 2011.
It started to happen last thursday (16th May 2014) and the screen suddenly changed the colors, some black stripes appeared and then it just crashed and frizzed. And this happened every time I tried to reboot it.
Friday night I brought it to an apple certified assistant center to know what was going on. (this was before knowing about this webpage and before knowing this is actually a common problem in all macbooks of my series) They just told me it’s a problem with the graphic board, so they need to replace all the logic board.

I’m gonna pay for the repair and it will cost me around 600€ (500 for the logic board and 100 for the assistance), because it was out of the warranty… The new logic board will come with a warranty of 2 years. Thanks apple for supplying such a nice service, if the same problem happens again after these 2 years I have to pay again.

I had no other chance, I’m an architect and I need my computer for work. It would be insane to pay 2000 euros for a new Mac, even more now that we know they are being in a decrease of quality!
Also believe that Mavericks is cracking a lot of other devices, they just turned slower and start giving problems after installing it.

dougielai

MacBook Model Macbook PRO Late 2011 15”
Serial Number: C02GP3GHDV7N
Case Number: R124064359
Country or Region: Australia
Details: It started with lines on my screen and then what to look like double vision on my screen and now computer won’t boot. It seems like the same issue as everyone else. I bought this is March 2012 and is now longer working. $2,000 paperweight! and Apple want $1,050 to repair it after just over 2 years! WHAT! I bought Apple because I believed they were quality products that would last. Less than 2.5 years is not quality. My 10 year old Dell works better! I need this machine during my cancer treatments because it keeps me sane watching movies, games, surfing the web etc!

davidv

Oderic

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model : Mac Book Pro 15″, 8Mo Ram, Late 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GT3HMDV7N
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: FRANCE
Details: Lot of problems like double screens, White screen, Green lines etc… when opening LR5 and CS6 (I am photographer). I am now not at all confident with apple company and I am looking to get to an other provider, that’s all! This company was in the past a reference for computers, especially for professional use, this is not anymore the case today. Their product quality is decreasing a lot… unfortunately!

slickdoporto

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: Early 2011 Macbook Pro 17″
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02G71XBDRJG
Case Number:
Country or Region: USA
Details: This has just started, I upgraded to 10.9.3, dont’ know if this pushed it over the edge or not. If I boot holding OPTION key, then go to recover, then reboot, it all seems to repair itself. Makes you wonder if it is both hardware AND software.

james

Apple ID :
MacBook Model : 17 inch – Mid 2010
Serial Number : C02DH0ABDC7C
Case Number :
Country or Region: FWI – Martinique
Details: Vertical colored lines – Integrated GPU doesnt work by connecting external screen nor by screen sharing – Only the Nvidia one does. Still managing to working this way.
I have two direct professional friends in my country that have the same issue (one of them MBP doesn’t boot anymore).

ronnieyeoh

Apple ID :
MacBook Model : 15 inch – Early 2011
Serial Number : C02FHCY6DF8X
Case Number :
Country or Region: Hong Kong
Details: Whole screen goes to vertical blue lines sometimes and no more desktop. Integrated GPU works. But sluggish when using FCPX. Discrete graphics freezes the computer. Multiple reboots won’t work. Machine has to cool down completely. I use gfx CARDstatus, SMC Fan Control. All these problems started right around the end of 2 years. In winter, machine works quite well. In summer, pray! After Apple logo, stuck on perpetual grey screen. Force shut down but will never boot for hours. After cool down, it may boot normally. When it boots, it runs well until heavy graphics software is used, like FCPX or Da Vinci Resolve, then it freezes in a few minutes. Have to force a reboot, which brings me to the perpetual grey screen. This can go on for a few days.
I’ve used Apple for 20 years. Their desktops work as advertised and I can totally bet my life on them working every time. No hassle. Just works. But Apple laptops, not so much. The 2008 and 2011 MBP’s have not been reliable. Neither their white Macbooks. All are due to graphics cards problems and heat issues.
Since I make my living on these machines, I’m saving up to get another newer model. No use complaining to Apple. They only make excuses and want more money from me to fix problems that they caused. And I’m a big, longtime customer.
What about those Geniuses? These guys know very little about power users problems. They can fix the casual user problems sometimes. Oh well, time to bring out the old credit card again.

chrisfreed1

Apple ID: chrisfreed1@gmail.com
MacBook Model: Early 2011 15-inch high-res display
Serial Number: C02F90TQDF8Y
Country or Region: USA
Details: The computer suddenly displayed a crazy pixeled screen then when restarted went to a gray screen and froze. Will not boot in Recover or from Disk drive. Hard drive seems fine.

susmaui

Apple ID (If you can provide):
Model: March 2011 15″ Macbook Pro
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: USA
Details: Good thing I didn’t buy the extra apple care because almost exactly 3 years to date of purchase had a few flickers and then stopped being able to boot. Would get to a blue screen and that was it. After trying many tricks (option, command, P+R, power + option, letting the machine rest etc etc) I was able to periodically start it but only to have it freeze within minutes if I actually tried to do anything such as browse the internet. Was able to repair disk with original CD, which allowed me to start up and use for longer periods of time but then the freezes with vertical or horizontal lines started happening. Tried restoring hard drive to factory but doing this reverted me back to not being able to boot again.

I don’t have the money now, but my next purchase will definitely NOT be a Mac. Used to be die hard Apple customer.

p.faltin

deuvede

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):-
Case Number (If you can provide): –
Country or Region: Spain
Details: Lines in the screen, blue screen when booting. Solution by “Genius”: Replace motherboard

zacchino

MacBook Model: Macbook Pro 15″ Late 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GYE7SDV7L
Case Number (If you can provide): 617227907 / 623437544
Country or Region: Paris, France

Details:
Same story. The AMD Radeon HD 6750M Graphic card is overheating and causing the LogicBoard to put itself in “Lock mode” to prevent damaging itself from the overheating. Conclusion is :

– About 850€ To replace the whole LogicBoard according to Apple Genius
– Apple Care won’t take it in charge, only Macbook Pro 2010 are listed in the “Extended Support Program to comply with the European IT Product Support law”
– Apple Ireland > Zahra Deschard : didn’t approve my case to take it in charge, despite the recommended mail I sent, explaining my case and the fact that it’s a factory-build issue, and that many other models / customers have this issue.

Apple create great, beautiful and robust product, and I’m sure they’ll make something and recognize this default in order to preserve what makes their name (longterm quality and sustainability).

A.Miltenburg

Problems since 23 june 2014
Unable to restart : only a grey screen after the apple or sometimes a blue lined screen
– No way to restart even after : resetting SMC, PRAM, apple hardware test, etc …
_ trying maybe 100 restarts and 1 wil work but when i want to recover, screen freezes.
– Then launch an internet recovery (do not hesitate to launch it 10 or 20 times …) it downloaded the ios but when i want to install the macbook freeze again.
Blue screens, grey screens….again and again

Macbook is at a service centre at this moment and when I decide to repair, it wil cost me 85 euro examination costs and 543 euro for replacing the logicboard because of videodistortion problem.

tyrone

MacBook Model: late 2011, 15″
Country or Region: Québec, Canada
Details: Pushed this machine pretty hard in under 2.5 years running spatial statistical models but never had any problem until last week when I decided to upgrade to Mavericks. Once I had clean installed to OSx 9.3, I opened iPhoto and the machine froze terminally. Only internet recovery worked in reinstalling Lion. All disks were verified and erased. I rebuilt the OSx and manually transferred my data 3 times and each time this MBP collapsed at exactly the same spot. Now even internet recovery does not work, the machine is hopelessly kaput. After the Apple and spinning gear the screen goes grey forever and the fan jacks up to hyper speed without reprieve. I am sending in for a hardware test, but I am guessing it is the GPU and I intend to hold Apple to account.

So, i try another method, i’m trying to boot with external HDD with Mountain Lion pre installed, and everything running just fine…so i presume that my HDD is broken….yeah…my data is gone, and i change the HDD by my own and my mac can be saved until yesterday….
and today…i see a graphical glitch…again…

hareic

Apple ID (If you can provide):hareic@126.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:2011 early 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02GH2LMDRJD
Country or Region:Hong Kong
Details:
same story：I bought my Macbook Pro 15″ in October 2011 in Hong Kong. On July 2014, I started to have screen glitches ( Image Distortion, screen blurring, freeze and shift) and I can’t boot the computer sometimes.
使用过程中，突然花屏、黑屏、蓝屏，然后死机，死机后关机偶尔开机继续黑屏。苹果零售店检测后无法确定问题，建议更换内存条，如果无法解决的话需要换主板（显卡）。现在换内存了，正在测试中，暂时还没出问题。

derek6262

Apple ID (If you can provide): macitizen
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) “MacBookPro8,2″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FR3FWDF8Y
Case Number (If you can provide): n/a
Country or Region: HK
Details: Failed since 2014.07.06, after 3 years and 2 months of usage. Now can only boot into Target Disk Mode by holding “T”, but can never boot into login screen.

topmobel

Apple ID (If you can provide):–
MacBook Model: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02G836RDRJD
Case Number (If you can provide):–
Country or Region: Taiper,Taiwan
Details: 2011年9月購入 2014.07.15突然白屏 重新開機跑完蘋果logo繼續白屏 再也沒反應

stroynov

Apple ID (If you can provide): stroynov
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FCAESDF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Russia
Details: The same. First some glitches and strobe came, then mac refused to run after gray screen, if boot in safe mode and then choose to reinstall OS from external drive – falls into blue striped screen and dies.

All authorized services shout in one voice “No! No! No! you SHOULD replace the logic board for 40 000 rubles (approx. $1100)!”. No way, fuck off, I’ll better buy two new ASUS. Trying to find someone who replace the chip.

steromango

Please add my mbp

Serial: C02FDFZEDF8V

Germany

Gray screen or blue screen with stripes, happened only twice and never booted ever after.
So nothing special.

Very disappointed with the hardware, and future purchase of another mac highly unlikely. Especially upsetting as I am on the road for 5 months. I recommend to refrain from apple in future as customer care seems to be only looking after potential buyers. Used to be different. I have been using mac for 14 years but hey- that was it!

bpapas

Apple ID – brunopapas
MacBook Model – Late 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GX00PDW47
Case Number (If you can provide): 638399041
Country or Region: UK
Details: Mac screen went totally glichty while developing heavy photoshop work and then frozen completely. Tried to restart the machine without any success. Reported it to apple who in the first instance told me they would repair it without me incurring in extra costs if it was the gpu problem. I took the mac to the store and after a couple days I received a quote asking for 620 euros (as this happen while i was in ibiza developing some work). I call back and tell them that the problem was as suspected before and asked the reason of not repairing for free as promissed before. Apple said my mac couldn’t be included in a free repair program cos it was an early 2011 and not a late 2011 as i said the first time i called. I was quite confused with this affirmation anyway and obvisously frustrated as i coudn’t see to whether they would provide the support to early 2011 mbp and not the late 2011 ones. As I hang up and went on and tried to look for the purchase receipt and found out i’ve bought in in feb 2012. this made me realize that maybe i was right with the mbp being a late 2011 as initially i thought and not an early 2011 as apple mentioned. I went online on their website and did a search via the serial number and indeed i found out to be a late 2011. I went call back and obvisoulsy couldn’t get hold of TIM DANIEL the Senior Mac Support Advisor that provided me with such inacurrate info and so i was dealing with another Senior Mac Support Advisor this time BEN O’MAHONY that made me go though every little detail again.

Overall, I’ve probably spent around 2 to 3 hours on the phone with apple and been given inacurrate information in regards to the solution of the problem. All of them confirmed the issue as known by apple, one confirmed the free repair if late 2011, while other mislead me in believing my machine was early 2011 and not late 2011 being the latest the ones ones getting free repair. Lastly another senior advisor came and appologized for all the inacurrate information that was given to me and also said that apple as a company didn’t have any knowledge whatsoever of such issues with the GPU!!!!! I mean, I’m amazed with the lack of service and prpofessionalism given by the company who i’ve helped to get where they are today. I am a creative director working in advertising for big brands and always rellied in these machines to provide the quality of my services and know i find myself completely disarmed and with less two of the clients I had as I couldn’t provide them with the agreed deadlines ( i am a uk based creative and was requested to come to ibiza to work for 3 clients and after initializing these projects this happened which left me without any way to answer as I don’t know anyone in ibiza and the apple service doesn’t provide with a replacemente machine).

Not sure what to do but surely would love to know more from the people being affected in the UK, specially London and would agree to gather oustide Regent street apple store and really make noise about it with media and other technology partners aligned onto this. Any who’s up for it do get in contact as I am gonna move myself towards this direction.

I am also affected by this problem cursed GPU I can use my Mac only on the map integrates with App GFXCardStatut

I called Apple to report their problem, I’m sure they are well aware, as it is themselves who advised me to use GFXCardStatut! Yet they do nothing to recognize the problem, I’d be curious to know how trade motherboard reported their

I hope they will eventually recognize this problem and solve it, because it is a defect, what is certain is that I do not lâcherais the case.

frogge

theashkinsdiet

MacBook Model: MacBook Pro – 17-inch, Early 2011 – 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Serial Number: ********DF8V
Country or Region: UK
Details: The same as all the thousands of other MBP2011 users. WHY HAVE APPLE NOT ADDRESSED THIS PROBLEM?!! Surely this is defective hardware on a mass-scale and has left my VERY EXPENSIVE laptop unusable; if this was a defective line of cars it would be all over the press and the manufacturer responsible would be clambering to fix the issue and hold onto its reputation and customers. Disgraceful.

Guido

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Pro late 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Italy
Details: I am also affected by this problem with the GPU, I have replace the Logic Board from Apple Store $ 644.00 but after 10 days, I have again the same problem.

Magee

V

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model:MacBook Pro 2011 Early 15” with AMD6750 GPU
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02FF22EDF91
Country or Region:Taiwan
Details:顯示卡問題，常常會無法開機，要過一會兒才會正常，從2011年中買到現在也不過3年，擺明是Apple品質有問題還裝死啊

kyle02nc

Apple ID (If you can provide): kyle02nc
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Orlando FL, purchased in Greenville SC
Details: I encourage everyone to file with the Better Business Bureau or your country’s equivalent.

My macbook pro died the DAY after my applecare expired.

While utilizing garageband and the internet my computer screen blanked out, the computer was still on. I restarted and the same thing happened again, each restart thereafter resulted in a grey screen, not allowing me to even get to the log in page. Now the screen goes blue. I was given dispicable service at the genius bar, being told that HE thinks it’s the graphics card but that more tenured people told him it was the hard drive, so I must PAY to replace that and then just SEE if that’s what the issue is. Then if that wasn’t it I’d need to pay an even higher price to replace the graphics card and SEE if that works. He kept glossing over it every time I kept trying to mention the EXTREME heat that comes from the bottom (where the logic board is) even though it’s on a laptop fan unit. He basically told me it’s not hot enough to make the sensor go off so it’s fine, but yet it’s hot enough to actually burn my legs.

I’m disgusted by the fact that they’ve recalled this EXACT SAME ISSUE for iMacs but for some reason not the macbook pros, is that because more people have purchased macbook pros? Is this pure greed? Lack of proper leadership? I’m a designer and am FINE with paying a PREMIUM PRICE for a PREMIUM DEVICE. If I wanted Dell quality I would’ve gotten a Dell and paid Dell price.

The sad thing is I REALLY WANT TO BE AN APPLE CUSTOMER, but if this is not made right and I can not allow myself to be and will take it upon myself to make it known to the MANY people I know who use apple products as well as the many who hated apple to begin with. The company I work for also has a partnership with apple and we purchase an INSANE amount of SPECIFICALLY macbook pro laptops from them a MONTH.

I’ll soon be making a tshirt design for this and will wear it proudly as long as Apple is choosing to ignore faithful, reasonable customers. Keep an eye out here: http://prettyuggly.spreadshirt.com/

shaun

MacBook Model: late 2011 Mbp 15
Serial Number (If you can provide):
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: Same issue, blue/grey screen, can’t get past the login screen anymore

After searching for solutions on Google for days, I’m so glad that I found this website! Took my mbp 2011 to an authorized apple repair shop to fix. They called the next day saying that my logic board was ruined, it cost around RM2,600.00 to get a new one. Thats about half of the MBP price! Of course, I din’t buy it.

Back then, I decided to switch from Window to Mac because I thought it would last 4-5 years at least. Now I’m really disappointed with it’s quality and hoping Apple will do something about it.

simonball

Apple ID (If you can provide): hello@iamsimonball.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02GG2MXDRJL
Case Number (If you can provide): R123186939
Country or Region: United Kingdom
Details: My laptop suddenly started glitching at work. I tried to restart the computer and the graphics wouldn’t boot at all – (I could still use the laptop, but with a black screen). I managed to get it seen to at a genius bar, but the only option was to replace the logic board. As I needed the laptop for work, I didn’t have any other choice and spent £360 on that service. 3 months later, the graphics are starting to glitch again and I’m too paranoid to shut off my computer in case it doesn’t switch on again and I have to spend that much money for a repair that doesn’t work. I’m not in a situation where I can afford to replace the laptop and am bemused as to why my computer feels as if it’s slowly dying. I hope it lasts for as long as possible, and I hope Apple do something about this, as it’s a complete joke.

lovedydy

Apple ID (If you can provide): tzuyinweng@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: 2011late 15
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02H5HD3DV7L
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Taiwan
Details: hope apple will do something about it, this expensive computer shouldn’t deserve this quality.

Apple ID (Satrun3000 (at) hotmail.com):
MacBook Model [ Early 2011, 15” ]
Serial Number (C02G22ZBDF8X):
Case Number (If you can provide): ??
Country or Region: Sultanate of Oman
Details: I’m having the same problems which has been described in this site since I’ve purchased it in 2011. I’ve been without my macbook for almost 2 months, as the seller have taken it to the service centre..and yet…the problem is still there!.. My computer is a total junk of hardware lying free at my home desk.. Apple MUST do something and respond officially to us all who are affected, Otherwise this will be my last Product for APPLE.

What a Waste of TIME and MONEY!!!! …It’s been YEARS now, and Apple is still IGNORING the issue!!!

lpv

My computer starts to have frozen screen and require restart in early summer. However, I was in the middle of furnishing a project and it worked back after restarts so I did not have time to go to Apple store until it really dies in August. Unfortunately that was after my 3 year warranty expired. I should also let you know that after my MBP early 2011 died, I used my Macbook late 2006 instead. Yeah, can you believe how much the quality goes down.

I am an engineer so by nature I would like to see the real problem myself before I go to see those “Genius”. However, from now on if anything blinks with my product that is still under warranty I will go and make the hell out of it for these GeniusBar to work on.

Btw, you should know that they now have a flat rate fixing program for this. They just quoted me $310 total for replacing the graphic chip. That means they noticed the problem. We should really find a way to push harder!

SeaWolf

Apple ID (If you can provide): wdahnert@me.com
MacBook Model Late2011 17inch, lATE 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02H31GNDV10
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: US
Details:
The experience as reported numerous times is the same. The following events occurred on my screen: initial vertical split of the screen with left-sided items grafted onto the right side, fuzziness of the screen, either red or blue screen of death, finally vertical purple lines interrupted by lighter whitish lines with Apple logo appearing together with spinning spokes wheel refusing to boot further.
I have a few questions:
(1) There are reports that maintain a logic board replacement cured the problem, others say it didn’t and others observed reappearance of the same woes after replacement within a few (3) months. What is it?
(2) Apparently Apple stores all over the world recommend replacement of the logic board. Does this include the GPU, which according to my technician is not a separate item? If it truly isn’t why do people claim the problem is with the GPU card?
(3) Some people claim it is all due to overheating of the mbp. My personal observation is that resting it on my lap during operations it does become uncomfortably hot. What is the evidence supporting mbp failure by “overheating”? Is it possible that the thermosensors responsible for fan rpms are poorly calibrated?
(4) What is the mbp failure rate compared to all mbp sold? Does the same model eventually fail given enough time?
(5) Apple apparently does not inform their own stores about the high prevalence of these problems and how to fix it appropriately resulting in additional and unnecessary expenses by unfortunate owners. Are Apple stores not informed by the mothership?
(4) Some people seem to cure the problem by switching from one graphic card to another. On my mbp I have an Intel HD Graphics 3000 and an AMD Radeon HD 6770 (the one accused to be the culprit). How do you accomplish a switch from one card to other?

sanjeev

Macbook model – 15″ early 2011
Serial number – C17FC4YTDF8V
Country region – Nepal
This is the second time that i am running through this problem ( red screen with vertical lines ) at first they said that some kind of graphic problem and u agreed to fix it and they did and again i have the same problem unfortunately it just happened after 90 days warranty after all i paid for graphic card jus for 90 days??

Purchased my MBP used on ebay last year for the screen, RAM, VRAM and the graphic capabilities, I use a second monitors and graphics intensive applications daily in my work. My screen started to do everything mentioned while on vacations in northern CA yesterday. I will be making an appointment to at the Palo Alto Apple store today and I suspect will need to replace my motherboard. This would be great if it can happen before I head back East on Tuesday (I also have an Apple store near me there too). I will keep you posted as the results. Yes it all sucks but I need my computer to work and I require a functional graphics card. I installed GFXcardStatus 2.3 running Mavericks and things seem stable for the moment running exclusively in the integrated POS Intel graphics but that will be useless when I go back to work on Wednesday. I would rather be out the money than unable to work, a crappy position to be in (thank you Apple). I usually buy applecare with my new computers and has come in handy many times. Unfortunately new laptops with the memory requirements and graphic requirements I need are just getting two expensive to replace every 3 years. I will post the results I get at the apple store later.

Went to apple store Genius Bar for my appointment late Sunday . He read my comment I left when I made the appointment about having this problem and leaving town on Tuesday . He was very understanding (well trained). Never looked at the computer after I explained the problem as he knew I was well informed and had seen this problem before. I asked how many times and he said he thought about 1% of the mbp might have this problem inferring it was a small number . Even if I had purchased this computer new, it would have still been out of AppleCare . He checked and found he has the motherboard in stock (surprise !) he said he would personally replace it ( I was the last appointment of the day.) it was complete and available for pickup by 6:00 the same day. My cost $525. + tax including the $39 labor charge and a 90 day warranty . Replacing the motherboard required disconnecting every internal component . For me this is the cost of doing business. I would loose more than that If my computer was down for a day. I couldn’t have hoped for a better response from Apple … Except for the cost (it was half the cost of my used computer) and the length of warranty , which I told them about specifically. Ever tried to get a Dell repaired in one day ?

traecy

Apple ID: available upon request
MacBook Pro Model: Late 2011 15” MB Pro
Serial Number: C02GM504DV7P
Country or Region: CA, USA
Details:
Still have one month left on my AppleCare. Image Distortion with vertical lines running through, screen shifting to right, freezes entire computer. If the replacement does the same I’m screwed. This sucks.

mirzallica

Details:
Started with vertical lines on boot and ending up with grey screen and fans spinning pretty fast.
I managed few times to boot it normally, but more then two weeks it’s always grey screen and that’s it…
I can not use it in any way.
2500 Euros worth piece of a you know what.

Boris

Apple ID:
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011, 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02G5RFHDRJC
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: The Netherlands
Details:
First I had booting problems with the grey screen, now I also have the pink vertical lines.
The only way to fix it right now, is by using the gfxCardStatus app to always use the Intel instead of Nvidia.

agu

luvapple

MacBook Pro Model 17 inch late 2011
Serial number CO2F483LD 8X
Country: Canada
Details: Blue Screen appears, reboot in safe mode, tried every fix, by opening each program one by one in safe mode, am able to reboot normally, eventually. Even combo fix resetting system clock, system power, removing memory etc does not help. All hardware is fine. On my computer the issue is bad code. Computer ran slower and slower each month until this. I did take to Apple store. Replaced hard drive, which did not help. Was unable to restore data as time machine which was installed and tested and worked when installed, died invisible, all the updates were non restorable data. So I lost most all my work. Apple is better than PC, but can improve if they simply solve their driver issues. There is just a bit further Apple must go with customer care. Please don’t tell everyone that problems have “never been heard and never before reported.” I’ve had my numbers of my staff call into apple all with same problem and have everyone in building told issue is only case. Not true and Apple support system does log these problems as reoccurring. Once Apple fixes this issue, their company will better serve humanity, and continue to profit.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR STARTING THIS BLOG SITE FOR THIS PROBLEM. I FEEL BETTER THAT I CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND HOPE APPLE WILL INITIATE A RECALL SOON. IF THEY DON”T THERE SHOULD BE A LAWSUIT.

Incidents appear to be random. Fans will go to high as core temp apparently leaps above 200 degrees F. Screen(s) have blocks of fuzzy colors that disappear when scrolled over with mouse but come right back. Computer freezes. Often when I start up the computer there will be only noise on the screen. ( looks like old tv white noise but w/ colors).
Additionally this coputers CD/DVD drive crapped out on me in the first year of owning it. I got it replaced for free under warrenty at an apple store and that one crapped out after my warrenty expired. So I only use an external drive with it now.
ALSO. This computer had cooling issues. The fans made lots of noise. (I use this computer for audio work that drives it pretty hard) I have had to replace them multiple times myself as my warrenty was expired. In the process of replacing a fan the plug on the logic board came off the logic board. Something I can do nothing about without replacing the logic board. It is now running on one fan which risks frying the rest of this piece of junk. ( I do have a fan app as well as an external “cool master” pad which sort of helps but not even close to what it should be capable of doing if it were built correctly).

THIS WAS AN EXPENSIVE COMPUTER THAT THAT I EXPECTED PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE FROM. (it is called a mac book “PRO” after all). I USE IT FOR PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS. I AM VERY DISSAPOINTED IN APPLE FOR NOT ADDRESSING THIS QUALITY ISSUE.

I personally feel the amount of money Apple will lose if they recall the defective products is far less than the lawsuits that will be filed, not to mention the worldwide poplulation of apple using costumers that are now dissatisfied with thier products.
There is clearly another blatant case of planned obsolescence from Apple. However this case crosses lines both legal as well as logical and ethical and warrents a recall. I spent over $2,000 on this computer which is like %10 of my annual income before taxes. (no joke i’m super poor I make $11/ hr even though I have a super expensive degree from a four year accredited private upstate NY liberal arts college. So as you might imagine:

I dont really hold out hope that Apple will do the right thing and make a recall – the company has become too arrogant for it. I have purchased at least 30 machines in the past, PowerMac, MacBook Pro’s, minis, iMacs, even an Xserve. And not counting iPods, iPhones, etc.

I will not buy another Apple product ever unless my MacBook Pro 17” is fixed. For free. An apology would be appreciated too.

My hope of that happening: zero. As long as people are dumb enough to queue up to buy the latest iPhone 6 and an Apple watch regardless of the quality, there is no reason too. But once you have screwed enough people, your luck will run out, Apple. I look forward to shorting Apple stock to zero when the time is right…

My graphics started going bad about two weeks ago. Same symptoms as everyone else. rebooting. randomly going down, but more often when I am doing something graphically intensive, like screen switching… but sometimes just moving the mouse too quickly seems to cause the problem. Even worse when I am hooked up to an extra screen or overhead projector. This computer cost about $3k when new (I bought a solid state drive _and_ apple care at the time. Now it seems to have a value equal to that of a brick. It is not dependable and either I buy a new motherboard (what does that cost, $1.5k?) or another computer. I have used apple since the days before they tried outsourcing their manufacturing… in terms of performance and reliability, this is a new low. Maybe apple can ignore our community because we are relatively small potatoes, but word will get around soon enough, and yet another monopoly (like microsoft and at&t) will start to fall by the wayside because of this lack of attention to quality and detail.

tommason

Model Name: MacBook Pro late
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Ill give all the other details if need be, but exact same problem. Wont boot, blue screen with lines if I try to reboot any other way. Its an absolute joke!

lesistheman

Same problem that has run rampent across the internetand here. Boots to grey screen. $2000 paperweight. Except mine died in the middle of a pro tools session file and hasn’t restarted yet. Boot camp will not boot and recovery will not boot. Furious as this is my only computer and DO NOT want to pay $500 for a repair.

giuliofv

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: Late 2011, 15″
Serial Number : C02GN3JZDV7P
Country or Region: Italy
Details: Jesus Christ Apple I loved you but it’s like being left from a parent in the middle of the childhood.
I bought this macbook to the maximum hardware option thanks to the winning of a contest.
I had some bad graphics signal even in 2013, but they weren’t that much so I ignored. This year, precisely 17 August 2014, my macbook simply died. After rebooting holding the power button for 7 seconds and letting the fan go it started again, but now I have to do this process every single time.
I am a video and music editor, so obviously now I can’t work on it.
Apple you son of a b. this problem can’t be hide anymore, don’t ignore us.

lisaleave

Apple ID (If you can provide): jlix6 (at) Pratt.edu
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: early 2011 15 inch
Serial Number (If you can provide):-
Case Number (If you can provide):-
Country or Region: US
Details:
I got my laptop 3 years ago for almost $3000. It was broken a couple hours ago when I was in the middle of writing codes for my thesis. Before it have gotten completely dead it showed some verticals thin stripes. And before all those shits happened, it got overheat often because the stupid fancy design.
I am gonna back up from FireWire and take it to apple store. I am expected if they ask me for 500 something to replace a logic board.
I guess I’ll never do that, I’ll never hand them any money inside an apple store. I guess I’ll just buy a second hand one online to finish my thesis, and after that I’ll just switch to a Surface pro.
Right now I am having so much respect to Microsoft and completely don’t trust apple.

sasha.aghababaie

Apple ID:
MacBook Model: 8,2 early 2011, 2.2GHz Quad core i7, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB DDR5, 15″, 750GB HDD (Model# A1286)
Serial Number C02F8MAUDF8X
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Tehran, Iran
Details: If Apple decides to has a program about changing or fixing the GPU issue of MBD2011 in future, There is NO chance for me, because we haven’t any app stores in my country, just submitted for increase the chance of you guys.

edso

Details: The problem came abruptly with distorted vertical lines across entire screen, then split the middle as if incorrect screen size and resolution (still with distorted line). System shortly thereafter froze (no mouse movement, no response to keys including sound + or 1. On hard reboot, it showed a grey screen with Apple logo and activity “signal”, then goes to a grey screen and nothing else. The system is actually booting up (I can hear disk activity, and I verified network activity), but the screen is just grey. I am expecting that this known defect will eventually have its just day in court, but I have given the Apple Genius’s a chances to repair the defect.

I asked the Apple Store Genius, “Are you, or is Apple, aware of any commonly recurring heat-related problems in late 2011 MBP systems?”. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “No. Neither he nor Apple were aware of any AMD GPU heat-related failures”. Interestingly, I never mentioned GPU or AMD heat failures.

The Apple store had my MBP for approximately 5 days. Then, they called me to recommend an Apple Depot Repair of $310 that allegedly will fix this problem, by replacing the logic board and supposedly any other defective item in the computer (of which the only defect is the graphics) and it provides me a 90 day warranty for anything in the system. I fear that this known GPU heat problem will only come back (the timing of the reoccurrence would be dependent on the state of the refurbished logic board). God only knows what other problems may exist on the refurbished logic board. But I’ve authorized the repair, as I need the system to be returned to service, and I am hoping that this may get me back a functional MBP.

If a class-action lawsuit against Apple is brought about, or Apple issues a recall, then I am certain to recover my cost for this service and another services that I may be subjected to as relates to this defect.

bangkalang

MacBook Model: Macbook Pro 15″ Late 2011
Serial Number: C02HJ9BYDV7L
Country or Region: Philippines (Macbook Pro brought from Hong Kong)
Details: Stuck in Gray Screen after Apple logo on boot up. Even I’m stuck in Gray Screen and I’m doing nothing, the laptop produces a lot of heat starting at the location of GPU then speeding to the whole bottom of the laptop.

durbandean

Apple ID :
MacBook Model: A1286 (EMC 2563*) – MacBookPro8,2
Serial Number : CO2H5018DV7M
Case Number :
Country or Region : Durban, South Africa
Details: It is now a Paper weight, just stopped booting. No warning. Its dead. Just a grey screen. All the same symptoms as everyone else.

gioparte

Apple ID (If you can provide): gioparte@gmail.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]: Early 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02F9XR5DF8V
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Italy
Details: Glitches, blue/grey sceens, crashes. Sent Email to Cook, submitted feedback, called apple, no good news so far..

jottypsilon

Apple ID (If you can provide): jottypsilon@me.com
MacBook Model: Early 2011, 17inch
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FC2JQDMGH
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: China
Details: blue/grey sceens, crashes. 不能进入系统

robtaurasi

Hai guys, I have tha same problem on my MacBook Pro 15 early 2011 serial : at request
My MacB Pro non work .. Schedule video non work and apple want 500 euro for repair this problem. Help me
Thanks so much

annlinglim

Apple ID : annlinglim@gmail.com
MacBook Model : 15” MacBook Pro Early 2011
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FJ1SGD8FV
Country or Region: Malaysia
Details: MBP shutdown after glitches, tried to reboot but blue screen appeared at start up. Tried several methods suggested by apple support to reboot but the problem comes back from time to time.

lucaiazzo

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model: 2011 Early 15”;
Serial Number ():
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: Italy
Details:
most of the issues already reported. The system doesn’t start and hold freezed on the grey screen

Stoneyduke

Apple ID (If you can provide):
MacBook Model Mac book pro Early, 2011,15”,:
Serial Number CO2F89JODF8V :
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region: swiss
Details:
Very same as above, freezes and boot anly from time to time for few minutes…
When to see specialist and solution is change mother board.
Not acceptable!
Keep it up people.

SimonB

Same problem here, macbook has worked for 3 years and suddenly BANG, screen not working , crashing and all sorts of fun. We have had 8 macs , some good and some bad, but never this awful. Off to the service today. If it’s a logic board, which according to reports does not fix the problem for long, sadly this will our last mac. Awful to be ignored

dirwin

MacBook Model: 2011, early, 15″
Serial Number (If you can provide): C02FT03LDF8V
Country or Region: UK
Details: Freezes on boot, can not use external display or anything that requires some power in graphic performance. Switching to the discrete GPU cause crash.

0tt0

I have experienced a similar problem with my early 2011 MBP. I brought it to my local “Genius Bar” and was told the logic board had failed. The “genius” offered two options; for $310 Apple would pass off my computer to a third party and the logic board would be repaired or replaced. The entire process would take about week. I could also elect to have Apple perform the same procedure for $500. I declined to act immediately and instead went home to research the matter. During that process I learned a lot about this problem and eventually came to discover this web-site. I signed a petition, tweeted my displeasure, wrote to Tim Cook and filled out a survey. I also decided that I was going to try re-flowing my logic board by taking it out of the computer case and placing it in a heated oven. From what I could gather this was essentially what would transpire over the week my computer would be MIA. This decision was not entered into lightly but since my computer was out of warranty and fully backed up I decided to give it a try. The job took 6 long hours but I was able to regain functionality of my computer. As an aside…I highly recommend iFixit.com for their most excellent repair manuals and if you’re curious about re-flowing a logic board there are plenty of YouTube videos documenting the baking process.

The computer “awoke” not knowing the date or time but everything else seemed fine. I tweaked the date and time in the system preferences and got myself back to work. Moments later my fans kicked into high gear. My computer was extremely hot (and not from the oven) so I investigated the situation with my Activity Monitor – mds and mdsworker were chewing up nearly 100% CPU processing. A quick search revealed that these root functions are relative to Spotlight and reflect your computer indexing itself for Spotlight functionality. In fact, if you engage Spotlight during this process you will see a brief note to this effect and a time line. Apparently this is normal. You can quit the process but it will re-spawn over and over until the job is done. My computer took about 30 minutes to index itself. During this time the fans went on about every five minutes.

So, in the end I spent approximately $30 on cleaning products and thermal paste. Damn, that felt good!

Fast forward 3 weeks…my computer has failed again! I had read about other folks who had tried baking their Apple computer only to experience another logic board failure within days or weeks so I was not surprised when it happened. After pondering the issue for a few minutes I decided to try something novel. I would simply open up the computer and disconnect the battery for a few seconds and then re-attach it. Something about the way my computer had previously come back to life made me think that re-flowing the board hadn’t been the real moving force behind my previous repair. Disconnecting the battery took only a few minutes and after re-connecting it my computer booted up normally and began re-indexing itself again. I am using it to write this comment. I am still trying to sort out the log files and will welcome any offer to help parse them but at this point I am not sure what is at play here. I understand that this “fix” may not offer a permanent solution but if others are able to regain functionality of their computer it may offer us an opportunity to dig deeper into this issue. Good luck! I’ll post again if something else comes up.

So My Mac froze at some point and I had to do a hard reboot (keep the on button pressed for 10+ seconds). It booted back but the screen was black. I rebooted several times, and at one point the screen came on and I could see the log-in icons, then it went black again. I tried hooking it up to an external monitor, to no avail.

I tried booting up in repair mode, to no avail.

I had updated the hard drive in it to an SSD, and so I swapped that for the original one, and I replaced the memory for the original memory, to no avail. All this led me to believe that this was a problem with the logic board or graphic card, probably the latter. This was something I had seen before with my previous macbook pro 2007 Santa Rosa, which also had a graphics card issue (which Mac agreed to replace, even out of warranty, likely because they were able to attribute the blame to NVIDIA (http://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203254). So this felt eerily familiar.

I brought the computer to the Apple Store (with one month left on the AppleCare warranty) after having put back the original HD and memory. There was no OS on the HD, but it still should have booted in Repair mode, which it did not.

I received a call a week later to the effect that they had identified the problem to be a faulty HD, and were going to replace that. And they did. Only that was not what the problem was, and when I picked it up I pointed this out, as in the meantime I had done research and found out that this was a widespread problem. I also told them that I believed their assessment was wrong since I was not able to boot in repair mode, with either the Hard drive they claimed was faulty, the one I was actually using, or another SSD I had just bought which was brand new. In repair mode, you should be able to boot even with a blank disk and install the OS from the network…

Since I got the “repaired” macbook pro back, I put back the SSD I was using and the computer booted up fine (i.e. the graphic card was working again. This is consistent with the problem as it is described on several sites, which is initially intermittent and can be temporarily, but not permanently, fixed. By repairing the HD (a $100 repair as opposed to $500 for the logic board) Apple has dodged the problem until my apple care warranty expires, after which I am hooped.

mbp2011problem

Apple ID (If you can provide): will provide to Apple if requested
MacBook Model: early 2011, 17″
Serial Number (If you can provide): will provide to Apple if requested
Case Number (If you can provide): will provide to Apple if requested
Country or Region: Slovakia, EU

Details:
The laptop refused to boot, displaying just a grey screen after Apple logo and progress indicator have gone. Memory is OK, HDD is OK as well. Checked in service. I have been told to replace the LogicBoard by the service. For 580EUR.

kazzzuo

wangzhaoyuan

Apple ID (If you can provide):zhiweiyujianni@126.com
MacBook Model [MODEL YEAR (Early, Mid, Late? | 13”,15”,17”?]:MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
Serial Number (If you can provide):C02H5H8ZDV7L
Case Number (If you can provide):
Country or Region:Hong Kong
Details:2015年1月30日更新了java，之后出现花屏需强制关机，卸载java仍然出现花屏或条纹屏幕或蓝屏需要强制关机。

slevarek

3 MBPs in our household.. 2010-2011..
Apple ID (If you can provide):

MacBook Model – MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010)
Serial Number C02DL1BPDC7C:
Case Number (If you can provide):
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
Country or Region: USA
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
Details: All 3 MBPs are 17″ one has completely died with the display, the second had display problems and now this ones hard drive just died after so much over heating. You can boot it with an external, but the existing hard drive is dead.

Mine the 2010 17″ has had the hard drive replaced with a SSD.

Been trying for over a year to figure out what to do.. Read all the forums.. The CPU issues.. Tried the resetting SMC, nothing, over heating is the worst issue. Changed the hard to SSD .. Removed the CD rom drive. Still runs hot!!
Screen has those lines everyone talks about. It really unbelievable.
I have been one of the ORIGINAL Apple Macintosh buyer from the 70’s. Such a disappointment.
Use to run servers off these macs back in the 80s.. Can’t believe that this expensive laptop tops are just now working as they should! And there is no solution .

TALK about losing hours in the work we are doing!!.. Really a scandal! Don’t know where to go from here! So so frustrating.